Page:Bury J B The Cambridge Medieval History Vol 2 1913.djvu/332

304 in the north-west of the Arabian peninsula, and Zoroastrian communities in the neighbourhood of the Persian Gulf.

Among the centres of Arabian paganism, none occupied a more distinguished place than Mecca (in Arabic Makka, or sometimes Bakka) which, thirteen centuries ago, was a small town situated in a barren valley, about 50 miles from the Red Sea coast. In an open space near the middle of the town stood the local sanctuary, a kind of rectangular hut, known as the Ka'ba (i.e. Cube), which contained an image of the Meccan god Hubal and various other sacred objects. A large proportion of the Arabian tribes regarded Mecca with exceptional veneration; all the surrounding district was a sacred territory, within which no blood might be shed. Some miles from the town a yearly festival took place and was attended by crowds of pilgrims from all quarters. Recent investigations have proved that this institution, called in Arabic the Ḥajj, i.e. "festival" or "pilgrimage," originally had no connexion with Mecca itself, and may possibly have been established before Mecca and the Ka'ba had come into existence. However this may be, it is certain that in historical times the pilgrims who attended the festival usually visited the Ka'ba and were treated by the Meccans as their guests; hence the annual Pilgrimage came to be intimately associated with the holy city.

In the sixth century after Christ most of the inhabitants of Mecca belonged to a tribe which bore the name of Ḳuraish. It was well known, however, that the Ḳuraish were recent immigrants. Both the town and the sanctuary had formerly been in the possession of other tribes, but as to the origin of Mecca no credible tradition survived. The Ḳuraish were subdivided into a number of clans, each of which claimed the right of managing its own affairs. On important occasions the chief men of the various clans met to deliberate; but there was no central authority. The sterility of the soil rendered agriculture almost impossible, and the Meccans had long subsisted by trading with distant countries. Every year great caravans were despatched to Syria and returned laden with wares, which the Meccans sold at a large profit to the neighbouring Bedouins. The mercantile population of the town was naturally far superior, in general intelligence and knowledge of the outer world, to the mass of the Arabs. A considerable proportion of the Meccans had learnt the art of writing, but they used it for practical purposes only. Book-learning, as we understand it, was quite unknown to them.

At Mecca, about A.D. 570, Mahomet (properly Muḥammad) was born. The clan to which he belonged, the Banū Hāshim, is commonly represented by Muslim writers as one of the most distinguished branches