It’s an odd point in world history. Around 610AD...the most tolerant city in the world...was Mecca. It was a general rule that if you resided in the city-state there....you had to accept various religions...from sacred cows to Christianity, period. You can’t find any other city with this type of arrangement around this time period.
So this one minister showed up and started his own group. Over the next decade...his self-start religion became a problem with the tolerant people and authorities of this Saudi Arabian town. Everything there was based on trade, commerce, and tolerance. Eventually, they said enough, and told him and his group to hit the road. The nearest town around to accept him? Medina. You can figure it’s a eight-day walk to get over there, and every step of the way...this self-start prophet of sorts was grumbling and angry. He’d been kicked out and it just wasn’t right.
It took around six years...but he came back eventually. He and his group started up a robbery scheme on anyone traveling to Mecca. The city authorities eventually decided that a treaty of sorts had to be done....to end this tirade and hit on their commerce trade. So he got invited in and a treaty was signed. The treaty and its positive effect lasted roughly two years....then he came with enough followers and troops to take over Mecca. He killed everyone off of some hit list that he made up.
From that day on....week by week....his thugs moved out and took over other Saudi towns, and moved onto Jordan, Egypt and the entire Middle East. The thugs would eventually be the reason for the Crusades to start, and be the downfall of various ‘safe’ empires in the region.
You can guess the guy’s name.
There’s another piece of this story which isn’t told much.
If you have heard of the black rock in Mecca....it existed prior to Muhammad and Islam. That’s the odd piece of this story.
The Mecca folks dug up this black rock, and made it into a religious pilgrimage prior to 610AD...for 350-odd religions. You could worship just about anything...and come to Mecca’s black rock for a religious experience once a year. Call it a tolerance fest or whatever, but the town made vast amounts of money off this pilgrimage business.
Oddly enough...after all the other religious groups in Mecca were chased out...the black rock status stayed around, and Muhammad made it into a Islam-only status. The town still made money, but strictly off Islamic players. So the most sacred thing in Islamic culture....was a multi-cultural religious rock for 350-odd religions...even sacred cow folks and angry volcano folks. This is the odd part of history that never gets told much. You have to wonder why.
Very interesting. Thank you.