Before we try to understand Prophet Muhammad or Islam, we should first understand the world in which Prophet Muhammad was born. We should try to understand pre-Islamic Arabia specifically and the world as a whole during the 6th century.
During that time, most of the world was uninhabited. There were a few nomad tribes in the Americas or Africa. But most of the world activity was happening in Europe and Asia. Two big empires Byzantine and Sassanid were dominating and fighting against each other for centuries.
Byzantine were Christians with their capital in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul). Sassanids were Iranian Persians with their capital in Ctesiphon. Their religion was Zoroastrianism.
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| Byzantine | Sassanid | Aksum |
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Arabia was just a hot desert and there were no natural resources to capture in the 6th century. Well, there was no oil and gas at that time. Living conditions were hard and that’s why no empire was interested in capturing it. There were a bunch of nomadic tribes who were fighting each other most of the time. These tribes would roam through the deserts with their livestock and live in tents. Most of these tribes were pagans meaning they were idol worshippers.
Hejaz:
The area of Hejaz within Arabia was always an important place. Geographically, it's next to the Red Sea. Since most of Arabia was a hot desert, so the locations of settlements were partly determined by access to water. This area became extremely important to the merchants and traders.
Makkah:
Within Hejaz, Makkah became an important trading hub for obvious reasons. Makkah was the place where Prophet Ibrahim and Ismail built Kaaba thousands of years back. Kaaba in Arabic means “The Cube”. Prophet Ibrahim declared the place around Kaaba as “Haram”, meaning that it was forbidden to conduct violence there. Makkans benefitted from this important place.
Artistic representation of Kaaba during that time.
One of the most affluent Arabian tribes was Quraysh which was based in Makkah. Rulers of Makkah were respected and were regarded as the servants of the religious center. They ruled among the Arabs in the name of religious leadership and always monopolized the custodianship of the Holy Sanctuary and its neighborhood. They looked after the interests of Kaaba visitors and were in charge of putting Abraham’s code into effect.