Mecca - Part 2

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Mecca - Part 2

 

(p.29) Mecca became a station for these northbound caravans. It was conveniently

located in the center of the Hijaz, and even though it was built on solid rock,

which made agriculture impossible there, settlement was feasible because of an

underground water source that the Arabs called Zamzam. The discovery of this

seemingly miraculous spring in such an arid region had probably made the site

holy to the Bedouin long before the development of a city in Mecca. It attracted

pilgrims from all over Arabia, and the Kabah, a cube-shaped granite building of

considerable antiquity, may originally have housed the sacred utensils of the

Zamzam cult. During the fifth and sixth centuries, the spring and the sanctuary

('haram') were controlled by a succession of different nomadic tribes: Jurham,

Khuza'ah, and finally in the early sixth century by the Quraysh, Muhammad's

tribe, who drove out their predecessors and were the first to construct

permanent buildings around the Kabah.

 

The founding father of the Quraysh was Qusayy ibn Kilab, who had brought

together a number of previously warring clans that were loosely related by blood

and marriage and formed this new tribe, just as Mecca was becoming a popular

center for long-distance trade. The name " Quraysh " may have been derived from

'taqarrush' ( " accumulation " or " gaining " ). [11] Unlike the Jurham and Khuza'ah,

who had not been able to abandon badawah [nomadic life], they acquired a capital

surplus that made a settled lifestyle possible. (p.30) First they managed to

secure a monopoly of the north-south trade, so that they alone were allowed to

service the foreign caravans. They were also able to control the mercantile

activity within Arabia that had been stimulated by the influx of international

commerce. During the first part of the sixth century, Bedouin tribes had begun

to exchange goods with one another. [12] Merchants congregated in a series of

regular markets that were held each year in different parts of Arabia, and were

so arranged that traders circled the peninsula in a clockwise direction. The

first market ('suq') of the year was held in Bahrain, the most densely populated

region; the next were held successively in Oman, Hadramat, and Yemen, and the

cycle concluded with five consecutive suqs in and around Mecca. The last fair of

the year was held in 'Ukaz immediately before the month of the 'hajj', the

traditional pilgrimage to Mecca and the Kabah.

 

During the first half of the sixth century, the Quraysh had started to send

their own caravans to Syria and Yemen, and gradually they established themselves

as independent traders. But despite this success, they knew that they were

vulnerable. Because agriculture was impossible in Mecca, they relied entirely on

the exchange of commodities, so if the economy failed, they would starve to

death. Everybody, therefore, was involved in commerce, as bankers, financiers,

or merchants. In the agricultural settlements, the badawah [nomadic] spirit

remained virtually intact because it was more compatible with farming, but the

Quraysh were forced to cultivate a strictly commercial ethos that took them away

from many of the traditional values of muruwah [chivalric code of the Bedouin].

(p.31) They had, for example, to become men of peace, because the kind of

warfare that was endemic in the steppes would make business impossible. Mecca

had to be a place where merchants from any tribe could gather freely without

fear of attack. So the Quraysh steadfastly refused on principle to engage in

tribal warfare and maintained a position of aloof neutrality. Before their

arrival, there had often been bloody battles around Zamzam and Kabah, as rival

tribes tried to gain control of these prestigious sites. Now, with consummate

skill, the Quraysh established the Haram, a zone with a twenty-mile radius, with

the Kabah at its center, where all violence was forbidden. [13] They made

special agreements with Bedouin tribes, who promised not to attack the caravans

during the season of the trade fairs; in return these Bedouin confederates were

compensated for the loss of income by being permitted to act as guides and

protectors of the merchants.

 

Muhammad (Prophet For Our Time)

Chapter 1, 'Mecca', p. 29-31

Karen Armstrong

Harper Perennial - London, New York, Toronto and Sydney

ISBN-13 978-0-00-723248-2

ISBN-10 0-00-723248-9

 

[11] Mohammad A. Bamyeh, 'The Social Origins of Islam: Mind, Economy, Discourse'

(Minneapolis, 1999), 30.

 

[12] Ibid., 11-12.

 

[13] Ibid., 38.