ABSTRACT
Islamic sources recount that Mecca was inhabited by various tribal groups prior to the Quraysh. In ancient times, the Amalekites were said to inhabit the environs of Mecca. Both Mecca and Medina (Yathrib) have pre-Islamic histories whose outlines are suggested in accounts of their settlement by different tribal groups, as well as by their engagement or encounters with more powerful political entities in the Peninsula and the broader near east, allowing scholars to piece together a partial and tentative history of both cities dating back at least two centuries before the rise of Islam. The situation of Mecca seems to have changed quite significantly in the sixth century and in the decades leading up to the emergence of Islam. Under the leadership of Quraysh, Muslim sources indicate, Mecca grew in importance as a site for both pilgrimage and trade – and the two were increasingly connected.
