Seerah · Sixth century CE · The Hijaz

Arabia Before the Prophet

Sixth-century Arabia had no central state. Authority rested with tribes, and a person's security depended on kin who would avenge a wrong done to them. Makkah's position rested on two things: the sanctuary of the Kaaba, which drew pilgrims from across the peninsula, and the trade routes linking Yemen to Syria.

Religiously the picture was mixed. The Kaaba, associated by the Arabs with Ibrahim, held numerous idols. Jewish communities were established in Yathrib and elsewhere, Christianity had a presence in Najran and among some tribes, and a small number of individuals known as hunafa are described as rejecting idolatry without belonging to either community.

Two features of the society matter for what follows. The first is the extraordinary prestige of Arabic poetry and oratory, which made verbal excellence the measure of distinction. The second is the vulnerability of anyone outside tribal protection, which explains a great deal about the pattern of persecution later.

On the sources: General background. Specific pre-Islamic episodes in the sources vary and are not all equally well attested.