Religious Situation of Mecca

8/10/2019 Religious Situation of Mecca

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THE RELIGIOUS SITUATION OF MECCA FROM TH E

EVE OF ISLAM U P TO THE HIJR A

The religious conditions in Arabia before Islam have interested many

Western writers. For those of them who are concerned with the rise of

Islam, these conditions have the significance of explaining this pheno-

menon and their immediate object of interest is what has been called the

sources of the Qur'Bn . But there is a wide divergence of views among

Western scholars on whether there were Jews and/or Christians in and im-

mediately around Mecca and if so, to what extent and with what religious

consequences. First of all, it has to be noted that these scholars are too

pre-occupied by the problem; of the relationshipof the Qur'Bn to the Judeo-

Christian religious documents and traditions and they hardly ever discuss

the presence of Judeo-Christian ideas among the

Meccan rab population

before Islam. The field is sharply divided between two camps, one con-

tending, as Richard Bel1,z that the main historical sources of the Qur'Bn's

teaching was Christianity, the other, represented, for example, by C.C.

Torrey,f insisting that it was Judaism that was the chief historical antece-

dent of the Qur'fin. Neither of them discusses, let alone discusses

seriously, the view expressed strongly by the Qur'Bn itself that the Qur'Bn,

with all its 'listorical content, is revealed directly by God-the view which we

have expounded recently in the article referred to herein.' Montgomery

Watts holds that Judeo-Christian ideas were generally present in the milieu

of Arabia and in particular Mecca, without adducing spec& evidence

for his view. In the following, we shall make n attempt to clarify this

situation and to briefly outline the career of Islam in Mecca in relationship

to the Meccans as well as to the Judeo-Christian tradition.

In this connection, views also differ sharply as to whether there was

any large Jewish or Christian population in Mecca: Bell and Watt hold

that there was no sizable population of the People of the Book there

while the less sober view of Torrey posits a large colony of Jews, without

Islamic Studies (Islamabad) 16:4 (1977)

Dr Muhammad Hamidullah Library, IIU, Islamabad. http://iri.iiu.edu.pk/


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citing any particular piece of hard evidence. The main difficulty in Tor-

rey's thesis is that whereas we know very well what happened to large-

scale Jewish communities that existed, for example, in Madina and Khaibar,

there is no word whatever forthcoming either in the Qur'gn or Muslim

historical literature as to the fate of the supposedly large Jewish Community

of Mecca, if there existed one. Whether this Jewish Community eventually

accepted Islam or whether they intransigently opposed it, as did the majo-

rity of Jewish Communities in Madina and Khaibar did is something we

should

reasonably expect to hear about. But there is simply nothing on

the subject; however, the thesis that there were hardly any Jews and/or

Christians in Mecca also raises serious problems in view of the Qur'fin's

evidence and, therefore, some view has to be evolved which will do justice

to both sides. A satisfactory solution to this problem will also materially

contribute to providing us with a clearer picture of the career of Islam in

Mecca both vis a vis the People of the Book and the Meccan pagans and

significantly alter some crucial views commonly held by Western scholars

on what developments are Madinan and what Meccan, including certain

key-terms used in the Qur'gn.

It is to

be

noted hrst of all that Meccan Arabs were not aII identical

with regard to their religious views and outlook when Islam appearedamidst

them. Most of them, particularly the mercantile aristocracy, were faithful

to their ancestral religion of idol worship, but there were others-individuals

or groups-who were in search of a new religion of the monotheistic type.

Ibn Ishfiq names three who became Christian, while one, Zayd ibn

Amr

ibn Nufayl neither became a Jew nor a Christian , as Ibn Ishfiq puts it,

but died in search of a new religion.

'Uthmfin ibn Maz'iin had also

gone through a religious agitation and became one of the early converts to

Islam. That many Meccan Arabs had been invited by the People of the

~ ~ o ko their religions is obvious enough from the Qur'gn: in Siira 27,

67-68 we read, And the disbelievers (i.e. pagan Meccans) say 'Shall we be

resurrected after we and our forefathers have turned to dust?

We and our

forefathers before

us

have been promised this-but this is nothing but

legends of the communities of the past.' The same idea recurs in 23,

83

in almost identical terms. The words We and our forefathers before

us

have been promised this make it clear. I think that attempts by Jews and/

or Christians at the proselytization of the Arabs-whether on a large or a

small scale-had been going on for some time.

Indeed, the repeated charge of the Arab pagans against the Qurln


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9

F ZLUR

R HM N

sence in Mecca. What is conceivable is that there were a few Jews in

Mecca who were visited frequently by other Jews. possibly relatives, from

Madina. Also, trading Meccans, when passing by Madina or visiting re-

latives there, frequently held discussions with Jews and possibly Christians.

Whatever the case, this kind of intercourse was fairly large-scale .and

systematic. After the Meccans, incessant attempts to contain the Prophet's

Message from spreading failed, they sent al-Nadr ibn al-I$irith and 'Uqba

ibn Abi Mu'ait to Madina to consult with Jews there as to how to over-

power the Prophet in argument. The former of these two was also well

versed in Persian legends and when the Prophet sat among members of the

Quraish preaching to them, reciting the Qur'an to them and admonishing

them with the fates of past nations, he used to take the place of the Prophet,

when the latter left, and, after telling the 'stories of ancient Iran, used to

claim that he could compete with the Prophet in telling stories of the

ancient peoples.

This evidence proves beyond doubt that several Meccans were eager

to learn the lores of various neighbouring peoples and that they were parti-

cularly well acquainted with the Biblical lore which they learnt from the

Jews. It is also certain that there were some Jews and possibly Christians

who had entertained Messianic expectations and, when the Prophet appe-

ared, supported him, encouraged him in his mission and believed in his mess-

age. Although these people, usually called, "people whom We had given

the Book (i.e. earlier Revelations)," or "people who had [already] been

given the Book", or "People of Knowledge", or "people of admonition",

are referred to in Madina as well, they figure much more frequently and

prominently in Mecca. When Meccans demanded proof from the Prophet

that he was, indeed, Allah's Messenger, the Qur'gn said, "Was it not a sign

for them (i.e. the pagans) that the learned men of the children of Israel

recognize him?" (26, 197). Later on in Mecca the Qur'an draws a sharp

distinction between these people and the Jews in general who did not believe

in the Qur'fin and were denounced as "Sectarians (Ahzab). In 11, 17,

we have, "And what of him who is on a clear proof from his Lord and then

a Witness (i.e. the Angel Gabriel) from God comes to him, and before it

there is already the Book of Moses as a model and a mercy? Those people

(i.e. the learned ones of the Jews who were recipients of the Mosaic

Re-

velation) believe in it (i.e. the Qur'gn), but whosoever of the Sectarians

should disbelieve in it, their destiny is Fire". Again, in 13, 36 we read,

"Those to whom we had (already) given the Book, rejoice in what has been

sent to you

0

uhammad ), but among the Sectarians there are those who


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THE RELIGIOUS SITU TION OF MECC

93

disbelieve in part of it . And 29, 47 tells us, And even thus have We

sent down to you the Book; those whom We had (already) given the Book

believe in it (i.e. the Qur'an), and among these ones (i.e. the generality of

the Jews), too, they are those who believein it .

But while it is abundantly clear that there was wide diffusion of

Jewish and Judeo-Christian ideas and beliefs among Meccans, it is equally

clear from the Qur'an itself that, aside from very rare exceptions, Meccans

were averse to accepting Judaism or Christianity. While the majority of

them, particularly their commercial aristocracy, clung to their anscestral

religion, those who were going through a more or less severe religious

ferment, were desirous of a new and special religion which would bestow

a distinction upon them vis a vis the earlier communities and make them

excel these in guidance . There is every possibility that the messianism

of the People of the Book, mentioned above, had influenced the Meccan

Arabs as well and that they would, therefore, rather have a new religion

than follow the older ones. In 28,47-48, after stating that the Qur'an had

been sent because, should Meccans be visited by misfortunes for their deeds,

they would try to excuse themselves that no Divine Message had been sent

to them to follow, the Qur'an says, But when the Truth from Us came to

them, they said, 'Why has he (the Prophet) not been given the like of what

Moses had been given ? adding, But did they not already reject what

Moses had been given before? In 35, 2 the Qur'an taunts the Meccans,

And they swore with all their might that if a Warner should come to them,

they would be better guided than any of the (earlier) communities; but

when it did come to them, it increased them only in aversion. Again,

6, 157 has, And this is a blessed Book we have sent down, so follow it and

fear God perchance you may receive mercy. (The Qur'Bn has been sent)

for otherwise you would say the Book was sent down only on the two com-

munities before us and we were unaware of its teaching or, you would say

if a book had been sent down upon us, we should have been better guided

than them (i-e. Jews and Christians).

We have made three main points so far: (1) that before Islam there

had been contacts between Arabs and the People of the Book, particularly

Jews, contacts which were fairly largescale, systematic and extending

over a considerable period so that Meccans were able to say that they

and their forefathers had been told about the Last Day and the Qur'in

could tell Meccans that they had been taught by the Book of Moses what

neither they nor their forefathers had known; (2) that, nevertheless,


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94 F ZLUR

R HM N

Meccans in general had rejected the older Semitic religions and many

of them hoped for a new religion, a new Prophet and a new scripture

whereby they could excel1 the two older communities; and (3) that from the

early days of Islam some Jews and/or Christians had supported the Pro-

phet's mission, that the Messianism of these learned Jews and Christians

had probably influenced certain Meccans who looked forward to the rise of

a new religion, and that in the later Meccan period the Qur'an sharply

distinguishes between these Jews and the Jews at large who disbelieved in

the Qur'Bn and whom the Qur'Bn calls "sectarians".

This authentically Meccan situation points to an ongoing controversy

and debate in

which the two main parties were the Meccans and the

Prophet but wherein the Jews also formed an important though sub-

sidiary third factor. We must grasp the developing situation in Mecca well

in order to pinpoint with sufficient confidence which verses of the Qur'an

can be referred to the Meccan period and which cannot. Thus, there

appears to prevail a near unanimity among Western scholars that wherever

Jews appear as the adversaries of Islam or wherever the term

JihZd

and its

derivatives or the term

rnundfiq

occur, those verses must be Madinan and

not Meccan.

It is, indeed, very tempting to hold this view because in

Madinaboth phenomena-that of Jewish animosity and of the Mund qiin

are highly prominent. But if one closely follows the developments in

Mecca, one is inevitably led to the belief that term like

JihrSd

and rnundfiqi2n

had begun to be used in the Meccan situation even though their meanings

when applied in Madina become much stronger and more sharply defined.

Indeed, the very fact that in certain verses their meanings are much less

emphatic and less sharply defined argues for these verses being Meccan and

not Madinan, supported, of course, by the relevant background evidence.

In our commentary given earlier on Silra 92 we drew attention to the

fact that the verse was jointly addressed to the Meccan Arabs and Jews and

the latter were accused of writing down the Book of Moses in such a way

that they suppressed part of it from the people. This accusation, carried

over into Madina, certainly begins in Mecca. Indeed, in an obviously

Meccan verse, the Qur'an expresses itself sarcastically about Jewish scribes:

"And before it (i.e. the Qur'Bn) you

0

Muhammad ) were not given to

recitinganyscripturenor did you write it down with your right hand-for in

thatcasethose who disbelieve in you would have reason to dmbt" (29,48).

In 42, 13, while the Qur'Bn stresses the unity of revealed religion and the

indivisibility of the line of prophetic succession from Noah and Abraham


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TH RELIGIOUS

SITU TION

OF

MECC 95

through Moses and Jesus to Mubarnmad and declares that the Meccan

pagans are particularly opposed to this whole line of prophetic succession, it

also underlines its disapproval of divisions and sects among the earlier com-

munities-a phenomenon we have dealt with at some length in our article

frequently referred to herein. Then, after stating in 42, 14 there these

earlier communities, having split up into sects, are exposed to grave uncerta-

inties and doubts, the Qur'Bn goes on in the next verse to ask the Prophet to

judge among them in religio theological matters and not social matters,

which occurred in Madina. Indeed, in 27, 76 the Qur'Bn is described as a

judge upon those points where the Israelites hich probably includes

Chistians as well iffer among themselves: "This Qur'Bn (autho-

ritatively) narrates upon the Children of Israel most matters regarding

which they niutually differ". It is strange, therefore, that Western scholars

should declare 29. 46 to be Madinan; it reads: "And dispute not 0

Muslims ) with the People of the Book but with the most polite method

except those of them who transgress. .

The reason given by Niildeke-Schwally and others for this verse

being Madinan is that, in Mecca, the Qur'ln, in view of the weakness of the

Muslims, could not have advocated a non-polite treatment even of the

transgressing Jews. It is this Islamic situation in its later Meccan phase

that now becomes cmcial for us to c arify in order to understand and cor-

rectly evaluate the relative position of Meccan pagans, Muslims and Jews.

For this, we must briefly sketch out the career of Islam in Mecca, since the

indelible impression on the minds of most scholars is that Muslims were an

utterly helpless class of people and that is why they had at first to emigrate

to Abyssinia and then to Madina; it is as though their position had remained

absolutely static with regard to the powerful Quraish pagans. Now, this

is simply not true. The truth seems to be that the Meccans, although they

disapproved of the new Faith, were never able to put up an all-out, concen-

trated and sustained opposition to the Islamic movement. Muslims were

persecuted and, indeed, tortured but this occurred in a desultory manner.

Whether or not they had a guilty conscience vis a vis the accusations that

the Qur7Bnconstantly laid against them-of idol-worship, fraudulent prac-

tices in commerce and exploitation of the poor, the fact that Islam gradually

appealed to many, including some honourable and influential persons,

while it jittered them on the one hand, it seemed to blunt their edge

and made their opposition desultory and half-hearted on the other (includ-

ing the immunity of the Prophet himself due to Abii TBlib's protection).


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After Abii Bakr and Abii 'Ubaida ibn al-Jan% became Muslims at

an early stage and the Prophet launched his movement in the open, some

leaders of the Quraish, after two unsuccessful attemps to persuade Abii

Tilib to dissuade the Prophet from preaching his new message or to

lift his protection from him, gathered to think of some effective strategy.

But they seem to have harmed their own position rather than by benefiting

it by propagandizing against the Prophet at the time of pilgrimage because

all Arabs, including the Madinese, came to know of Islam. The persecu-

tion of Muslims seems to have been undertaken in earnest after Hamza

became Muslim and that persecution resulted in the first Emigration to

Abyssinia, particularly of the weaker members of the Muslim society. But

while this Emigration was still in progress, 'Umar became Muslim and

Ibn Ishi3q tells us that the Islam of 'Umar and Hamza strengthened the

Muslims so much that they were able to compete with or withstand

the Quraish in power ('iizzii Quraishan) s This led the Quraish, as though

in half panic, to institute a boycott of the Banii HBshim, which failed after

two or three years, if it was ever possible for it to succeed. Despite the

severe trials of some members of the new Community at times, the Mec-

cans never seemedeven with the support of Jews-either to be able to

silence the Prophet in debates into which they drew him now and then, or to

come to a point where the crushing of the new movement would seem im-

minent. And as time went on, the Muslims became stronger and stronger

through the slow but steady big conversion gains they made.

In this situation, to think of the Prophet and his followers as utterly

helpless and totally at the mercy of their opponents who might kill or destroy

them at their own sweet will is certainly a half-myth created, no doubt,

by certain later Muslim accounts and

impressed upon the modem Orien-

talists' mind. Hence the dictum of Noldeke-Schwally quoted above that

in 29,46 the words except those (Jews) who transgress cannot be Meccan.

Yet, 27, 76, also given above and wherein the Qur'in claims to authorita-

tively settle theological points of disputation among the Israelites , is

happily accepted by Noldeke-Schwally to

be

Meccan. Indeed, it seems to

be the case that, when after the death of Khadija and Abii Tilib, the Pro-

phet preached his message to various tribes in the Hajj season and visited

Ti'if and eventually moved to Madina, these were not the actions of a

helplessly desperate person but those of a man who had gained enough

following to be confident that, should some outside elements support him,

he could get Mecca for Islam sooner or later. Ibn Isbiq also tells us that


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THE RELIGIOUS SITU TION OF MECC

97

on his second meeting at the 'Aqaba with the Madinese before the Hijra,

the Prophet was accompanied by his uncle 'AbbBs who was not a Muslim

at that time but who told the Madinese that

Mukmmad and his cause

were being entrusted to them for aid and were not being surrendered to

them since Mubmmad had enough protection at Meccas.

In the light of this we now come to the discussion of a

Qur'iinic

passage consisting of the first tenverses of Siira 29 which some Muslim

commentators declare to be Madinese while others hold them to be Meccan

and which, with the exception of A. Sprenger, followed by Hirschfeld, 1

all Western scholars believe to be Madinan because of the occurrence

therein of words like Jihad and muniifiq. The relevant verses of the

passage read as follows

Do people, then, think that they will be left alone, after

they say, 'We believe', and that they shall not be tried? Indeed,

We tried people before them (i.e. Muslims) and God must know

those who are true and He must know who are the false ones.

Or, do those who perpetrate evil think that they will outstrip Us?

vil is what they judge.. And who so struggles hard (JcShada),

does so only for himself -(for) God is independent of the whole

world. And We have admonished man to do good to his parents,

but if they should try their best (put you to trial-Jiihadiika) that

you associate with God that of which you do not know (i.e. if they

try to compel you to worship others besides God), then do not

obey them-to Me is your return and I shall let you know what you

had been doing.. And among men there is he who says We

believe in (one) God , but when he is persecuted in God's cause he

comes to equate the trial inflicted upon him by people with God's

punishment; so if help comes (to you Muslims) from your Lord,

these (turncoats) will say, We were with you -indeed does God

not know what is in the hearts of men? God, indeed, shall clearly

separate those who (really) believe from those who are hypocrites

(hypocritical) .

This passage contains a cluster of three key-terms which are closely

related. These are fitna which describes a situation where a person is

pressured by others-mostly by relatives and friends-to defect from his

&tions or retreat from his views and the weapons used can be either

propaganda or mental or physical torture. One element infitnu seems to


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be

that, although its victims are usually individuals or families, it is exer-

cised on a fairly large scale and creates a situation where some people do

not know what to do and sooner or later simply succumb to pressure

unless they are very strong indeed. The second key-term is Jihiid which

means to struggle or try hard for a casue. This word has been used twice-

once in reference to a person and means to struggle hard to stand up against

fitna. Whoso struggles hard does so only for himself (or his own good)

and, secondly referring to someone's parents who t y hard to convert him

back from Islam to paganism. The third term is muniiiq or munfifiqiln, i.e.

hypocritical ones. Now, if one were not to take into account the situation

offitna and considered only the terms Jihiid and muniifiqiin, it would be

so easy to be tempted into regarding them as Madinan, since both of these

are, indeed, standard Madinan terms. As forfitna, although this term is

used in the very early Madinan days to describe the active pressure, includ-

ing physical violence and, indeed, fighting, on the part of Meccans to bring

back those new Muslim converts who had left Mecca and joined the Pro-

phet in Madina, its standard and patent use refers to the persecution of

Muslims by Meccan pagans in Mecca itself. Large-scalefitnu undoubtedly

occurred either just before the Emigration to Abyssinia or during the last

phase of the Prophet's life in Mecca and particularly on the eve of and dur-

ing the Emigration to Madina. A. Sprenger locates this passage of the

Qur'Bn during the fist persecution.ll But since Muslims at that

time

were not strong enough to withstand pressure, it is unlikely that the Qur'Bn

should have used such strong language against defectors and particularly

the terms Jihrin and muna'fiqiin.

But as we have detailed above, Islam had gained very considerable

strength during the last phase of the Prophet's Meccan career. Indeed,

Muslims were permitted by the Qur'Bn even to retaliate attacks upon them

with physical violence in 16, 126 although bearing persecution with patience

rather than violence was still declared better in this verse, which the general-

ity of Western scholars believe to be Meccan. Muslims were, therefore,

powerful enough to be able to retaliate. Now, if we consider the terms

Jihdd and mundfiqiin in this Qur'Bnic passage, in this fitna-background,

it at once becomes clear that their meanings are not the same as when they

are employed later in Madina. We must first note that the verse which

speaks of a person or persons who, when subjected to persecution, regard it

as though it was punishment from God, cannot possibly refer to Madina,

for there such subjection of any Muslim to such persecution is unthinkable.


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99

This fact in itself should have been enough to deter Naldeke-Schwally

an d others from declaring the passage to

be

Madinan, evem though some

Muslim

have held this view. As for the term Jihtid in this

context, it obviously does not mean JihcSd in its M ad inan sense bu t merely

indicates a strong-willed resistence to th e pressures of ji tn a an d t o retaliate

in case of violence; or, in th e case of the parents of

a

son who had embraced

Islam, a strong effort to reconvert him from Islam. T he J ikd of Madina

refers to an organized an d tota l effort of th e Community-whenever neces-

sary throu gh war-to overcom e the hurdles in the way of the spread of

Islam. Indeed, in M adina , it is often equivalent to Q ittil o r to active war.

T he meaning of the term mmlffiqiin here is also much less strong tha n in

Madina for here it simply signifies people who succumb to pressure and

whose faith is no t strong enough to withstand t ha t pressure. In M adina,

this term primarily ind icates a grou p of people, the clientele particularly

of 'Abd Allah ibn Ubayy, w ho had deliberately pu t o n the facade of Islam

a s a kind of fifth column in o rder to subvert Islam an d uzdermine the Pro-

phet's position from within.

These

people had a mo re o r less definite iden-

tity and ha d a kind o f secret alliance bo th with Jews an d with M eccan pag-

a n s an d always, in times of war, were with the enemies of Islam. a t least

passively. But in th e Qur'iinic passage under consideration, they a re simply

fickleminded people whose power of faith is weak. In M adina too such

people probably existed but they were secondary to tha t hard-core of

Hypocrites to whom the term app lies in a specific,

technical sense.

~ a r a l l e l o the present verse is in 22, 11 which, without using the term

Mundfiqiin says, And amon g men there is he wh o worships (one) G o d

only as a peripheral matter: so lon g as good keeps coming to him, h e is

happy with it, but when a fitna strikes him, he turns right around .

There is, thus, a continuity and a transition from the late Meccan t o

the early Madinan period and no t a clear break a s so many of th e modem

writings on d ating the Qur'iin and , indeed, o n the life of th e Prop het pro-

ject. Western writers seem on the whole to

be

obsessed by certain Madi-

nan phenomena, the M uslim-Jewish hostility an d chan ge in t he Qibla

which many think changed the very orientation of Islam fro m Jud aism

away to A rabia. W e have argued in this paper and the on e referred t o

herein th at these capital m isunderstandings occur primarily because of no t

seeing the Meccan developments an d perspectives properly. An other such

capital misunderstanding we have attemp ted to clarify in th e present article

is that terms like Jihtid and muntifiqfin are seen as invariably Madinan,


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3 1

In

the light of our argument howevcr, which has established that hypocrites s

a category

arose

first

in

Mecca and not

in

Madina, these

verses

must

be

treated

s

Meccan for otherwise, according to Noldeke-Schwally, themselvm, there is no

reason why 22 53-54. for example, should not be Meccan.

Indeed,

in Madina,

there are only three categories, not four, sin e the category of p w s s

hardly

there

and only Muslims,

Jews

and Hypocrites are left.

Religious Situation of Mecca

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