ABSTRACT

Islam is a religion of written revelation in the form of one book, the Qur’an. The Arabs were a Semitic people who had become relatively isolated from other Semitic people; a larger proportion of them had remained nomads than was the case with other Semites. Among the urban Arabs, the influence of the old desert life was very great and they had the same conflicts that the Arabs had in Judaism. Mecca was an important trade center on the way from India to the Mediterranean Basin, but it was famous for more than that. It was famous for its shrines, especially the Kaaba, the central shrine in Mecca. The earliest revelations of Muhammad call on the people of Mecca to acknowledge that their prosperity was due to Allah alone—this is a very important concept—their prosperity is due to Allah and not to themselves. Gratitude to Allah for prosperity should be expressed by sharing one’s wealth with the poor.