Editing History of Islam (section)

== Inception ==
{{for timeline|Timeline of the history of Islam (6th century)|Timeline of the history of Islam (7th century)}}
{{further|Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|Muhammad in Mecca|Early Muslim conquests}}
{{see also|Early social changes under Islam}}

[[File:Map of Arabia 600 AD.svg|thumb|Map of the [[tribes of Arabia]] in late antiquity]]
Early Islam arose within the historical, social, political, economic, and religious context of [[late antiquity]] in the [[Middle East]].{{sfn|Robinson|2010|p=9}} [[Judaism in pre-Islamic Arabia|Judaism]] became the dominant religion of the [[Himyarite Kingdom]] in Yemen after about 380 CE, while [[Christianity in pre-Islamic Arabia|Christianity]] took root in the [[Persian Gulf]].<ref name="Robin302"/> The second half of the 6th century CE saw political disorder in [[pre-Islamic Arabia]], and communication routes were no longer secure.<ref>{{cite book|author=Christian Julien Robin|title=Arabia and Ethiopia. In The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKRybwb17WMC&pg=PA297|year=2012|publisher=OUP USA|pages=297–99|isbn=978-0-19-533693-1}}</ref> [[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|Religious divisions]] played an important role in the crisis.<ref name="Robin302">{{cite book|author=Christian Julien Robin|title=Arabia and Ethiopia. In The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKRybwb17WMC&pg=PA302|year=2012|publisher=OUP USA|page=302|isbn=978-0-19-533693-1}}</ref> There was also a yearning for a more "spiritual form of religion", and "the choice of religion increasingly became an individual rather than a collective issue."<ref name="Robin302"/> While some [[Arabs]] were reluctant to convert to a foreign faith, those [[Abrahamic religions]] provided "the principal intellectual and spiritual reference points", and Jewish and Christian loanwords from [[Aramaic]] began to replace the old pagan vocabulary of [[Arabic]] throughout the peninsula.<ref name="Robin302"/> The ''[[Hanif|Ḥanīf]]'' ("renunciates"), a group of [[Monotheism in pre-Islamic Arabia|monotheists]] that sought to separate themselves both from the foreign Abrahamic religions and the traditional Arab polytheism,<ref name="Rubin 2006">{{cite encyclopedia|author-last=Rubin|author-first=Uri|author-link=Uri Rubin|year=2006|title=Ḥanīf|editor-last=McAuliffe|editor-first=Jane Dammen|editor-link=Jane Dammen McAuliffe|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān]]|volume=II|location=[[Leiden]]|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|doi=10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQCOM_00080|isbn=978-90-04-14743-0}}</ref> were looking for a new religious worldview to replace the pre-Islamic Arabian religions,<ref name="Rubin 2006"/> focusing on "the all-encompassing father god [[Allah]] whom they freely equated with the Jewish [[Yahweh]] and the Christian [[Jehovah]]."{{sfn|Rogerson|2010}} In their view, [[Mecca]] was originally dedicated to this monotheistic faith that they considered to be the one true religion, established by the patriarch [[Abraham]].<ref name="Rubin 2006"/>{{sfn|Rogerson|2010}}

According to the [[Historiography of early Islam|traditional account]],<ref name="Van-Ess 2017"/><ref name="Zimney 2009"/><ref name="Lewis1995a"/> the [[Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad]] was born in [[Mecca]], an important caravan trading center,<ref name="Peters-1994-68">{{cite book|last=Peters|first=F. E.|year=1994|title=Muhammad and the Origins of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0OrCo4VyvGkC&pg=PA68|location=[[Albany, New York]]|publisher=[[SUNY Press]]|series=SUNY series in Near Eastern Studies|pages=68–75|isbn=9780791418758|access-date=4 November 2023}}</ref> around the year 570 CE.<ref>"The very first question a biographer has to ask, namely when the person was born, cannot be answered precisely for Muhammad. [...] Muhammad's biographers usually make him 40 or sometimes 43 years old at the time of his call to be a prophet, which [...] would put the year of his birth at about 570 A.D." F.&nbsp;Buhl & A.T.&nbsp;Welch, ''Encyclopaedia of Islam 2nd ed.'', "Muhammad", vol.&nbsp;7, p.&nbsp;361.</ref> His family belonged to the Arab clan of [[Quraysh]], which was the chief tribe of Mecca and a dominant force in western Arabia.<ref name="Lewis1995a"/><ref name="Robin287">{{cite book|author=Christian Julien Robin|title=Arabia and Ethiopia. In The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKRybwb17WMC&pg=PA287|year=2012|location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=287|isbn=978-0-19-533693-1}}</ref> To counter the effects of anarchy (particularly raiding for booty between [[Tribes of Arabia|tribes]]), they upheld the institution of "sacred months" when all violence was forbidden and travel was safe.<ref name="Robin301">{{cite book|author=Christian Julien Robin|title=Arabia and Ethiopia. In The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKRybwb17WMC&pg=PA301|year=2012|location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=301|isbn=978-0-19-533693-1}}</ref> The polytheistic [[Kaaba]] shrine in Mecca and the surrounding area was a popular pilgrimage destination for surrounding Arabs, which was a significant source of revenue for the city.<ref name="Robin301"/><ref name="Zeitlin49">{{cite book|author=Irving M. Zeitlin|title=The Historical Muhammad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbhJJ7AOLL4C&pg=PA30|date=19 March 2007|publisher=Polity|isbn=978-0-7456-3999-4|page=49}}</ref>

[[File:Stanford 2007, recto.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|A page from the [[Sanaa manuscript]], with "subtexts" revealed under [[UV]], very different from [[1924 Cairo edition|contemporary editions of the Quran]]. [[Gerd R. Puin|Puin]] argues that these variants indicate [[Early Quranic manuscripts|an evolving text]], not a fixed one.<ref name="Atlantic 1999">{{cite magazine |author-last=Lester |author-first=Toby |author-link=Toby Lester |date=1 January 1999 |title=What Is the Koran?|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/01/what-is-the-koran/304024/ |url-status=live |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |location=Washington, D.C. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825233826/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/01/what-is-the-koran/304024/ |issn=2151-9463 |oclc=936540106 |archive-date=25 August 2012 |access-date=16 May 2022}}</ref>]]

Most likely Muhammad was "intimately aware of Jewish belief and practices," and acquainted with the ''Ḥanīf''.{{sfn|Rogerson|2010}}{{sfn|Hazleton|2013|p="a sense of kinship"}} Like the ''Ḥanīf'', Muhammad practiced ''[[Taḥannuth]]'', spending time in seclusion at the Cave Hira in the mountain [[Jabal al-Nour]] and "turning away from paganism."{{sfn|Bleeker|1968|p=32-34}}<ref>Sally Mallam, [https://humanjourney.us/ideas-that-shaped-our-modern-world-section/mohammad-and-the-beginnings-of-islam-community-of-believers/ ''The Community of Believers'']</ref> When he was about 40 years old, he began receiving at mount Hira' what Muslims regard as divine [[Muhammad's first revelation|revelations]] delivered through the [[Angels in Islam|angel]] [[Gabriel#Islam|Gabriel]] on the [[Night of Power]], which would later form the [[Quran]]. These inspirations urged him to proclaim a strict [[Monotheism|monotheistic faith]], as the final expression of [[Bible prophecy|Biblical prophetism]] earlier codified in the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity; to warn his compatriots of the impending [[Judgement Day]]; and to castigate social injustices of his city.<ref name="Muhammad p. 363">"Key themes in these early recitations include the idea of the moral responsibility of man who was created by God and the idea of the judgment to take place on the day of resurrection. [...] Another major theme of Muhammad's early preaching, [... is that] there is a power greater than man's, and that the wise will acknowledge this power and cease their greed and suppression of the poor." F.&nbsp;Buhl & A.T.&nbsp;Welch, ''Encyclopaedia of Islam 2nd ed.'', "Muhammad", vol.&nbsp;7, p.&nbsp;363.</ref> Muhammad's message [[Timing of Sahabah becoming Muslims|won over a handful of followers]] (the ''ṣaḥāba'') and was met with [[Persecution of Muslims by Meccans|increasing persecution from Meccan notables]].<ref name="Donner2000"/><ref name="Mecca. p. 364">"At first Muhammad met with no serious opposition [...] He was only gradually led to attack on principle the gods of Mecca. [...] Meccan merchants then discovered that a religious revolution might be dangerous to their fairs and their trade." F.&nbsp;Buhl & A.T.&nbsp;Welch, ''Encyclopaedia of Islam 2nd ed.'', "Muhammad", vol.&nbsp;7, p.&nbsp;364.</ref> In 622 CE, a few years after losing protection with the death of his influential uncle [[Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib|ʾAbū Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib]], Muhammad migrated to the city of Yathrib (subsequently called [[Medina]]) where he was joined by his followers.{{sfn|Robinson|2010|p=187}} Later generations would count this event, known as the ''[[Hegira|hijra]]'', as the start of the Islamic era.<ref name="Hourani15-19">{{cite book|author=Albert Hourani|title=A History of the Arab Peoples|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=egbOb0mewz4C&pg=PA15|year=2002|location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|pages=15–19|isbn=978-0-674-01017-8}}</ref>

[[File:Hijra Abyssinia (Rashid ad-Din).jpg|thumb|1314 Illustration by [[Rashid al-Din Hamadani|Rashid ad-Din]], depicting the [[Negus]] of [[Kingdom of Aksum|Medieval Abyssinia]] declining a [[Quraysh|Meccan]] delegation's request to surrender the [[Companions of the Prophet|early Muslims]].]]

In the [[first Islamic state]] in Medina, where he was accepted as an arbitrator among the different communities of the city under the terms of the [[Constitution of Medina]], Muhammad began to lay the [[Early social changes under Islam|foundations of the new Islamic society]], with the help of new Quranic verses which provided guidance on matters of law and religious observance.<ref name="Hourani15-19"/> The [[surah]]s of this period emphasized his place among the [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|long line of Biblical prophets]], but also differentiated the message of the Quran from the sacred texts of Christianity and Judaism.<ref name="Hourani15-19"/> [[Early Muslim conquests|Armed conflict]] with the Arab Meccans and [[Jewish tribes of Arabia|Jewish tribes]] of the Yathrib area soon broke out.<ref>{{cite book|author=W. Montgomery Watt|title=Muhammad at Medina|url=https://archive.org/details/muhammadatmedina029655mbp|date=1956|publisher=Oxford at the Clarendon Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/muhammadatmedina029655mbp/page/n22 1]–17, 192–221}}</ref> After a series of military confrontations and political manoeuvres, Muhammad was able to [[Occupation of Mecca|secure control of Mecca]] and allegiance of the Quraysh in 629 CE.<ref name="Hourani15-19"/> In the time remaining until [[Death of Muhammad|his death]] in 632 CE, tribal chiefs across the Arabian peninsula entered into various agreements with him, some under terms of alliance, others acknowledging his claims of prophethood and agreeing to follow Islamic practices, including paying the [[Zakat|alms levy]] to his government, which consisted of a number of deputies, an army of believers, and a public treasury.<ref name="Hourani15-19"/>

The real intentions of Muhammad regarding the [[spread of Islam]], its political undertone, and his [[Dawah|missionary activity]] (''da'wah'') during his lifetime are a contentious matter of debate, which has been extensively discussed both among [[Ulama|Muslim scholars]] and [[Kafir|Non-Muslim]] scholars within the academic field of [[Islamic studies]].<ref name="Poston 1992">{{cite book|author-last=Poston|author-first=Larry|year=1992|chapter=Daʻwah in the East: The Expansion of Islam from the First to the Twelfth Century, A.D.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hzvnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11|title=Islamic Daʻwah in the West: Muslim Missionary Activity and the Dynamics of Conversion to Islam|location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|pages=11–12|isbn=978-0-19-507227-3|oclc=133165051}}</ref> Various authors, Islamic activists, and historians of Islam have proposed several understandings of Muhammad's intent and ambitions regarding his religio-political mission in the context of the pre-Islamic Arabian society and the founding of his own religion:<ref name="Poston 1992"/>

{{Blockquote
|text=Was it in Muhammad's mind to produce a world religion or did his interests lie mainly within the confines of his homeland? Was he solely an [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalist]]—a political [[genius]] intent upon uniting the tribal clans under the banner of a new religion—or was his vision a truly international one, a desire to produce a reformed humanity in the midst of a new world order? These questions are not without significance, for a number of the proponents of contemporary da'wah activity trace their inspiration to the prophet himself.[...] Despite the claims of these writers, it is difficult to prove that Muhammad intended to found a world-encompassing faith superseding the religions of Christianity and Judaism. His original aim appears to have been the establishment of a succinctly Arab brand of [[monotheism]], as indicated by his many references to the Qurʾān as an "Arabic book" and by his accommodations to other monotheistic traditions.<ref name="Poston 1992"/>
}}