r

each tribe had its own stone. All tribes, to*"rru" ,o. shiped a massive black meteorite*the Black Stone, whifi - Failleen placed in a cenrral shrine called t}le Ka,ba (lthll-

routes in the region began to change. A new trade route* from the Mediterranean through Mecca to yemen and then by ship across the Arabian Sea and the In&an Ocean-became more popular, and communities in that part of the Arabian peninsula, such as Mecca, began to prosper from this caravan trade. As a result, tensions arose between the Bedouins in the desert aad t}:e increasingly wealthy merchant classes in the towns. Into this intense world came Muhammad (moh-HAM-mud or moo-HAM-mud).

buh) in the city of Mecca. In the fifth and sixth centuries c.8., the fuabian pen_ insula took on new importance. As a result of poliiical disorder in Mesopotamia and Eg;pt, the usual trade

MuhammadBorn in Mecca to a

(c.570-632) was orphaned at the

merchant family, Muhammad

age

The Rise of lslam

^*
? Focus Qursrrox: What
of Islam, and why was
successfully?

'

!'

was the basic message

it

able to expand so

he Arabs were a Semitic-speaking people of southwestern

sia with a long history. In Roman times, the Arabian rninsula came to be dominated by Bedouin nomads who oved constantly to find water and food for their anials. In earh times, the Bedouins had supported themIvbs primarily by sheepherding or by riiding passing ravans, but after t}te domestication of the camel during
e second millennium e.c.s., the Bedouins began to par_ :ipate in the caravan trade themselyes and becarne major

to bpcpme a caravan maaager and eventually married a rich'vhdow who was also his employer. In his middle years, hi began to experience visions that he believed were inspired by Aliah. Muhammad believed that aIthough Allah had already revealed himself in part through Moses and Jesus-and thus through the Hebrew and Christian traditions*the final revelations were now being given to him. Out of these revelations, which were eventually written down, came the eur,an (kuh-RAN or kuh-MHN) or Koran, which contained the guidelines by which followers of Allah were to live. Muhammad,s teachings formed the basis for the religion known as Islam, which means "submission to the will of Allah." Allah was the all-powerful being who had creared the universe and everything in it. Humans must subject themselves to Allah if they wished to ahieve everlasting life. His followers were called Muslims, meaning ,,pr"cl ', titioners of Islam." After receiving the revelations, Muhammad set out to convince the people of Mecca that the revelations were h:ue. At first, many thought he was ineane, and others
would upset the established social and political order. Discouraged by the failure of the Meccans to accept his
message, feared that his attacks on the corrupt society around him

of five. He grew up

rriers of goods between the persian GuIf and the Med-

rrranean Sea. Although these early Arabs were polpheistic, there was iupreme God named Allah (AH-lah) (Arabic for ..God,,) ro ruled over the other gods. There was no priesthood; members of the tribe were involved in the practice of

: faith. Allah

was symbolized by a sacred stone, and

left nofth "yqp"ful later&e city and moved('tity to rhe sival city of Yathrib, renamed Mefina of the prophet,,j. The year of the journey to Medina, known in hlstory as the Hegrra (hee-JY-ruh) ("departure,), became year 1 in the official calendar of Islam. Muhammad, who had been invited to Medina by a number of prominent residents, soon began to win support from people in the town as well as from members of Bedouin tribes in the surroundiag countryside. From these groups, he formed the first Muslim community. Muslims saw no separation between political

in 622 Muhammad and some of his

closest

R^2&

rhe

Rise

of

tstam