b. Explaining Islam_a. Explaining Islam 22/02/2012 19:40 Page 10
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ISLAM
Negus of Ethiopia was Christian. In the sixth century there was even a bishopric of southern Arabia, established by St Gergentius. Mecca’s geographical location, the dramatic adjacent landscape and the ferocity of the desert tribes, meant that the city had always escaped the reach of the two principal regional empires - Christian Byzantium situated on the landbridge between Europe and Asia, and Zoroastrian Iran (Persia). Mecca was already established as a place of pilgrimage indeed its local commercial pre-eminence depended on its being so. Pious traditions associating the Ka’aba with the names of Adam and Abraham were perhaps already in existence. In addition to the God of whom Adam and Abraham were to be regarded as prophets, a further 360 deities of both sexes were worshipped. It is known, however, that long before Muhammad uttered his famous saying, “La ilah illah Allah” (‘There is no deity but God’) there were monotheists in Arabia. Known as the hanifa they were of pivotal importance in Arabian history, but little is known of their core beliefs. Born in either 569 or 571, Muhammad was an orphan from the age of six. For the next two years he was cared for by his grandfather until he too died and his uncle, Abu Talib, became his guardian. Muhammad cared for his uncle’s flocks and accompanied him on trading caravans to Damascus where they encountered Christian worship. By his early twenties Muhammad was known to the inhabitants