Makkah had also men rolling in riches whose well-furnished drawing rooms were the
rendezvous of the elite of the Quraysh who rejoiced in the pleasures of wine, love and rom-
ance.
The chiefs of the Quraysh usually had their sittings in front of the Ka'bah in which promi-
nent poets of pre-Islamic days, such as, Labid, recited their poems. It was here that 'Abdul
Muttalib used to have his gatherings and, as they say, his sons dared not take their seats
around him until their father had arrived.
CULTURE AND ARTS
Industrial arts and crafts were looked down on by the Quraysh; they considered it beneath
their dignity to have their hands in a handiwork. Manual occupations were regarded as
occupation meant exclusively for the slaves or non-Arabs. Yet, notwithstanding this proclivi-
ty of the Quraysh, certain crafts were a dire necessity and were practiced by some of them.
Khabhab b. al-Aratt is reported to have been engaged in manufacturing swords. Construc-
tional activities were also indispensable but Iranian and Byzantine workmen were employed
to do the job for the Quraysh.
A few men in Makkah knew the art of reading and writing but the Arabs, as whole, were
ignorant of the way by which learning is imparted. The Qur’an also calls them Ummi or an
unlettered people:
“He it is Who hath sent among the unlettered ones a messenger of their own.”
The people of Makkah were however, not ignorant of the arts of civilisation. Their refined
taste, polish and culture excelled them in the whole of Arabia in the same was as the
townsmen of any metropolis occupy a distinctive place in their country.
The language spoken at Makkah was regard as a model of unapproachable excellence: the
Makkan dialect set the standard which the desert Bedouins as well as the Arabs of outlying
areas strived to imitate. By virtue of their elegant expression and eloquence, the inhabitants
of Makkah were considered to possess the finest tongue, uncorrupted by the grossness of
the languages of non-Arabs. In their physical features, shapeliness and good looks, the
people of Makkah were considered to be the best representatives of the Arabian race. They
were also endowed with the virtues of courage and magnanimity of heart, acclaimed by the
Arabs as Al-Futuh and al-Murauwah, which were the two oft-repeated themes of Arabian
poetry. These traits of their character admirably describe their recklessness which savored
troth of a devil and a saint.
The matters that attracted their attention most were genealogy, legends of Arabia, poe-
try, astrology and planetary mansions, ominous flight of the birds and a little of medication.
As expert horsemen, they possessed an intimate knowledge of the horse and preserved the
memory of the purest breed; and as dwellers of the desert they were well-versed in the
delicate art of physiognomy. Their therapy based partly on their own experience and partly