1. Islam

2. Pre-Islamic Arabia
THE ARABS: During ancient times, the Arabs inhabited much of the area from the Arabian peninsula to the Euphrates River.

3. Pre-Islamic Arabia
Medina
Arabia
Mecca

4. Pre-Islamic Arabia
Fertile Crescent
Medina
Arabia
Mecca

5. Pre-Islamic Arabia
Mesopotamia
Medina
Arabia
Mecca

6. Pre-Islamic Arabia
The Levant
Phoencians
Hebrews
Medina
Arabia
Mecca

7. Pre-Islamic Arabia
Medina
Arabia
Dynasties of the South
Mecca

8. Pre-Islamic Arabia Byzantine Empire Persian Sassanid Empire Arabia
Medina
Arabia
Mecca
Arabian Dynasties

9. Pre-Islamic Arabia 7th Century Arabia:
No stable large-scale political governments
Harsh environment forced people to organize into close-knit clans, or extended families that formed tribes
Sheikh = leader of tribe
Tribal family protected members of the extended family

10. Pre-Islamic Arabia 7th Century Arabia:
Early Arabs were polytheistic, Allah = main god among possibly hundreds of others
Nature based, animistic gods
Spirits (Jinn) in stones, trees, wells, and animals

11. Pre-Islamic Arabia 7th Century Arabia:
Traced their ancestry to Abraham and Ishmael:
Believed to have built a shrine called the Ka’ba at Mecca

12. Abraham’s Genealogy ABRAHAM SARAH HAGAR Isaac Esau Jacob
12 Tribes of Israel
Ishmael
12 Arabian Tribes

13. (Amneh+) Abdallah Abutalib Hamzeh Alabbas Abulahab Alhareth
Abraham
Ismail
Adnan
Quraiysh
Qussaiy
Abdmanaf
Abdshams Hashem
(Amneh+) Abdallah Abutalib Hamzeh Alabbas Abulahab Alhareth
The pedigree of Mohammed's family tracing back to Abraham.
Son of Abdallah and Amneh.
Note uncle Abutalib, viewed as monotheist by many historian, and his son Ali, Mohammed's cousin and ‘body’.
Paternal uncle, Abbas, the father of the Abbassids, while the Ummayah dynasty is 3 generations away
Uncle Hamzeh, whom Muhammad dearly loved, killed in a battle with Mecca, 627
The grave of his great grandfather, Hashim, is in Gaza
Adbelmuttalib
Muhammad
Ali
Ummayah Dynasty Abbbassides Dynasty
( )
( )

14. Pre-Islamic Arabia 7th Century Arabia:
Traced their ancestry to Abraham and Ishmael:
Believed to have built a shrine called the Kaaba at Mecca
Black Stone, cornerstone of the Ka’ba, revered for its association with Abraham

15. Pre-Islamic Arabia Arabic culture at the birth of Muhammad:
lack of political organization of any form
crime was committed, the injured party took law in its own hands, and tried to administer “justice” to the offender
only protection a man could find from his enemies, was in his own tribe – tribal warfare was a permanent institution of the Arabian society

16. Pre-Islamic Arabia Arabic culture at the birth of Muhammad:
tribal warfare was a pastime, a dangerous sport, - heroism and winning glory and honor for their tribes
Jewish population controlled farming, making of weapons
slavery of men and women
most powerful class of the Arabs was made up by the traders and money-lenders

17. Pre-Islamic Arabia Arabic culture at the birth of Muhammad:
huge wealth gap between wealthy traders and rest of society
Mecca and Yathrib (Medina) were dominant trading cities
Caravan trade was basic to Mecca and Yathrib - in summer to Syria, in winter to Yemen

18. Pre-Islamic Arabia Arabic culture at the birth of Muhammad:
Male dominated society, number of women a man could marry not fixed
drunkenness, gambling, and prostitution common
polytheistic idol worship, Jews, Christians
high level of illiteracy, poetry key form of artistic expression

19. ECONOMIC COMPONENTS:
Common language
Bedouins
Farmers
Traders

20. BEDOUINS (nomadic herdsmen) provided for their own needs with:
Herds of sheep and goats
Small-scale trading in towns
Regular raids on one another and on caravans.

21. FARMERS:
Isolated farming areas
many areas’ soils were too poor
rain was too infrequent to support agriculture.

22. TRADERS:
Cities supported traders
luxury goods (spices, incense, perfumes)
from the Indian Ocean region and southern Arabia along caravan routes to the cities of the eastern Mediterranean.

23. TRADERS:
domestication of the camel expanded caravan trade between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea
traders formed the economic and political elite of Arabia
led the tribes.

24. Pre-Islamic Trade Routes

25. MECCA:
oasis and the most important trade center in Arabia.
dominated by the powerful tribe of the Quraysh (KOOR-aysh).
most important city economically, culturally, politically, and spiritually

26. THE KA’BA:
Shrine created the religious significance of Mecca

27. THE KA’BA:
founded according to Arab tradition by Abraham
For centuries, pilgrimages to Mecca to visit the Ka’ba, site of a huge black meteorite.

28. THE KA’BA:
founded according to Arab tradition by Abraham
For centuries, pilgrimages to Mecca to visit the Ka’ba, site of a huge black meteorite.

29. THE KA’BA:
Representations of all polytheistic gods were placed inside

30. Pre-Islamic Arabia
Medina
Arabia
Mecca