Patricia Crone, Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam, chap. 10 ("The Rise of Islam").
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Patricia Crone, Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam, chap. 10 ("The Rise of Islam").
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This article considers the rise of Islam from a new perspective, or at least from a different perspective than that of early Islamic historians in general, and Watt in particular. Crone’s view is that the rise of Islam is attributable not to Meccan trade (as states Watt), but to Muhammad’s mix of social, religious, and political efforts that appealed to the tribal community. Crone finds Watt’s assertion (that Mecca was in turmoil due to its trade status, and Muhammad offered a solution via his preaching) faulty: “in the first place, it is unlikely that so brief a period of commercial wealth should have sufficed to wreak much havoc in Meccan society” (p. 231); secondly, whether there even was a “malaise” in Mecca is dubious (due to lack of evidence); and thirdly, it was in Medina, not Mecca, that the Prophet’s message was accepted. “Having linked its genesis with Meccan trade, [Watt] is forced to identify a second set of problems to account for its success in Medina” (p. 234).
The author’s view is that the nature of Islam stems from tribal gods who took care of basic needs and provided a sense of community, rather than philosophers who were too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good. “Allah was a source of communal identity to them, not an answer to questions about the hereafter” (p. 239). According to Crone, “It is thus clear that the mass conversion of Arabia to Islam does not testify to any spiritual crisis, religious decadence, or decline of pagan belief … What the mass conversions show is that Muhammad’s God had something very attractive to offer here and now … What he had to offer was a programme of Arab state formation and conquest: the creation of the umma, the initiation of jihad” (p. 241). While she offers that Meccan trade may have had a role in the spreading of the religion, the author dismisses the notion that it had anything to do with the gestation of Islam.