��The Keeper of the Keys 43IN 613, THREEyears after the Revelation had begun, Muhammad’s
message underwent a dramatic transformation, one that is best summed
up in the twofold profession of faith, or shahadah, that would hence-
forth define both the mission and principles of the movement:
There is no god but God, and Muhammad is God’s Messenger.
From this point forward in Muhammad’s ministry, the monothe-
ism that had been implicit in the earliest recitations became the domi-
nant theology behind what had thus far been primarily a social
message. “Proclaim to them what you have been commanded,” God
demands, “and turn away from the polytheists” (15:94).
But while it is commonly assumed that it was this new, uncompro-
mising monotheism that ultimately brought the wrath of the Quraysh
upon Muhammad and his small band of followers (“Does he make the
gods one god?” the Quraysh are supposed to have asked. “This is
indeed an astounding thing”), such a view fails to appreciate the pro-
found social and economic consequences implied by this simple state-
ment of faith.
It is important to bear in mind that the Quraysh were quite
sophisticated with regard to religion. After all, they made their living
off it. Polytheism, henotheism, monotheism, Christianity, Judaism,
Zoroastrianism, Hanifism, paganism in all its varieties, the Quraysh
had seen it all. It is difficult to believe they would have been shocked
by Muhammad’s monotheistic claims. Not only had the Hanifs been
preaching the same thing for years, but the traditions list a number of
other well-known prophetic figures living throughout the Hijaz who
also preached monotheism. In fact, the early Muslims revered two of
these “prophets”—Suwayd and Luqman—as Muhammad’s predeces-
sors. Luqman even has his own chapter in the Quran (31), in which he
is called a man upon whom God had bestowed great wisdom. So, the-
ologically speaking, Muhammad’s assertion that “there is no god but
God” would have been neither scandalous nor, for that matter, origi-
nal in Mecca.
There are, however, two very important factors that distinguished
Muhammad from the rest of his contemporaries, factors that would