Islam began as a religion of the sedentary, but it soon found support and military
strength among the nomads. The movement began at Mecca, a commercial center
and the launching pad of caravans organized to sell Bedouin products—mainly
leather goods and raisins—to the more urbanized areas at the Syrian border. (See
Map 2.2.) Mecca was also a holy place. Its shrine, the Ka’ba, was rimmed with the
images of hundreds of gods. Within its sacred precincts, where war and violence
were prohibited, pilgrims bartered and traded.
Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, was born in this commercial and religious
center around 570. Orphaned as a child, he came under the guardianship of his uncle,
a leader of the Quraysh tribe, which dominated Mecca and controlled access to the
Ka’ba. Muhammad became a trader, married, had children, and seemed comfortable
and happy. But he sought something more: he would sometimes leave home,
escaping to a nearby mountain to pray.
“In the Name of God the Compassionate the Caring / Recite in the name of your
lord who created – / From an embryo created the human / Recite your lord is all-
giving.”^7 Thus began a series of searing words and visions that, beginning around
610, came to Muhammad during his retreats. The key word was God, one God (the
Arabic word for God is Allah). The key command was to “recite.” Muhammad
obeyed, and later, as these recitations were written down and arranged—a process
that was completed in the early seventh century—they became the Qur’an, the holy
book of Islam. The Qur’an is understood to be God’s revelation as told to
Muhammad by the angel Gabriel, and then recited in turn by Muhammad to others.
Its first chapter—or sura—is the fatihah, or Opening:
In the name of God
the Compassionate the Caring
Praise be to God
lord sustainer of the world
the Compassionate the Caring
master of the day of reckoning
To you we turn to worship
and to you we turn in time of need
Guide us along the road straight
the road of those to whom you are giving
not those with anger upon them
