Muslim Studies

to stimulate them religiously. Only those moments of life which were connected to his tribal constitution produced any real religious piety in the soul of the pagan Arab,¹ and out of this, a kind of ancestor worship German: "Ahnencultus"; Goldziher argues that early Arab "religion" was less about gods and more about the veneration of tribal ancestors and the preservation of their traditions. developed. Similarly, the primary attributes of Arabian morality were tied to the customary laws that regulated social life.

The rare traces of an exercise of religious feeling can likely not be separated from the influence that Southern Arabia exerted on the northern parts of the country.² In Yathrib The pre-Islamic name for the city of Medina., where tribes that had immigrated from the South resided, the ancestral mindset produced a mood more receptive to religious impulses, which ultimately worked to Muhammad's advantage.³ In general, however, Muhammad could count on very few elements in the spirit of his fellow countrymen that were favorable to the success of his preaching. What he brought was the exact opposite of their worldview, their ideals, and the traditions of their ancestors. Hence the stark opposition that confronted him from all sides. It was not so much the destruction of the idols that the pagans resisted, but rather the pietistic disposition that was to be implanted in them: the determination of one's entire life by the thought of God and His predetermining and retaliatory omnipotence; the requirements of prayer, fasting, and abstinence from eagerly sought pleasures; and the sacrifice of money and property demanded of them in the name of God. Furthermore, they were now expected to regard much of what they had previously considered the highest virtue as barbarism original: "ǵahl"; a reference to the term Jahiliyya, which Muslims use to describe the pre-Islamic "age of ignorance" or "wildness." Goldziher suggests this was a radical revaluation of traditional Arab values. and to recognize a man as their supreme leader whose claim to such high recognition sounded quite unusual and incomprehensible in their ears, being fundamentally different from the merits upon which their own fame and the fame of their ancestors were based.

II.

First and foremost, and quite apart from the specific content and spiritual direction of Muhammad’s proclamation, it is the personality of the Prophet himself that was little suited to impress people who gave their admiration and reverence only to powerful individuals of a completely different kind than the "Messenger of God"

1. These relevant facts have been brought to light by Robertson Smith in Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia.
2. Compare Journal asiatique 1883 II, p. 267.
3. Regarding those factors that favored Muhammad's success in Medina, see Snouck Hurgronje in De Gids 1886 no. 5 (Islam, separate print p. 32).