Pre-Islamic Bedouin vs. The Teachings of Early Islam

The focal pattern of pre-Islamic Arabia life was rural. Genealogy preserved family, clan and tribal purity. The livelihood of the Bedouin included raising camel and sheep, hunting, and escorting caravans through the desert. The Bedouin also participated in raids in which settled people were attacked for goods such as camels, horses, slaves, gold and fine fabrics. A superior force usually attacked a weaker force in these raids. Raiding was instrumental in developing the tradition of …

…for the abandonment of polytheism in favor of monotheism. Secondly, Islam called for the abandonment of the kin based system in favor of a unified ummah and lastly Islam revised the political system of pre-Islamic Arabia and concentrated more power into the divinely inspired Prophet. Bibliography Denny, Frederick Mathewson. An Introduction to Islam. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1994. Wolf, Eric R. "The Social Organization of Mecca and the Origins of Islam." Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 7.4 (1951): 32