A History of Western Society: Printed Page 220
A History of Western Society, Value Edition: Printed Page 206
A History of Western Society, Concise Edition: Printed Page 220
In Muhammad’s time Arabia was inhabited by various tribes, many of them Bedouins (BEH-
For all Arabs, the basic social unit was the clan — a group of blood relations connected through the male line. Clans expected loyalty from their members and in turn provided support and protection. Although the nomadic Bedouins condemned the urbanized lifestyle of the cities as immoral and corrupt, Arabs of all types respected certain aspects of one another’s customs and had some religious rules and rituals in common. For example, all Arabs kept three months of the year as sacred; during that time any fighting stopped so that everyone could attend holy ceremonies in peace. The city of Mecca was the major religious and economic center of western Arabia. For centuries before the rise of Islam, many Arabs prayed at the Ka’ba (KAH-