b towns were Mecca and Medina (originally called Yathrib). Mecca had become very rich by buying goods from India and carrying them to Syria. The Meccans would sell the goods at a large profit, buy products of Egypt and Syria, and carry them back to be sold throughout Arabia (Glubb, 1969, p. 26). Medina was an agricultural center rather than a real city.
Even the Arabs who lived in the towns believed that the nomadic way of life was best. They adopted the values of the nomadic groups, based on the "solidarity and self-protection of the tribe," and a system where the whole tribe was responsible for the actions of any individual member (Mansfield, 1980, p. 15). The Arabs had no written laws, but they followed a strict code of vengeance against criminals and proper behavior among members of the tribes. Warfare between the tribes was common. But, the point of most of the fighting "was not so much to win the war as to gain personal glory" (Glubb, 1969, p. 25).
Up until the seventh century, the nomadic Arabs worshipped many gods: the spirits of trees, rocks, and springs. They believed in "a variety of spirits who would be of either sex and were often based in a particular rock or tree shrine" (Mansfield, 1980, p. 16). One of the most important shrines was the Black Rock that was worshipped at Mecca. Every year, pilgrims from all over Arabia gathered at Mecca, which was considered a sacred city, to worship at the shrine of the Black Rock. The people of Mecca were proud of being "the guardians of so holy a temple," and they also "took advantage of the pilgrimage crowds to hold fairs and transact some profitable business" (Glubb, 1965, p. 19).
By the seventh century, there were many Jews and Christians in Arabia. The people of Yemen, in south Arabia, had adopted a new religion--believing in one god, called Rahman. Some Arabs had become Christians, and others had become Jews. It was the Jewish Arabs who did most of the fa...