The precursors Of islam (m8 3000 BCE–500 CE): The Rise of Agrarian-Based Citied Societies

In the 7th century CE a coalition of Arab groups, some sedentary and some migratory, inside and
outside the Arabian Peninsula, seized political and
fi scal control in western Asia, specifi cally of the lands
between the Nile and Oxus (Amu Darya) rivers—territory
formerly controlled by the Byzantines in the west and the
Sasanians in the east. The factors that surrounded and directed
their accomplishment had begun to coalesce long before, with
the emergence of agrarian-based citied
societies in western Asia in the 4th millennium BCE . The
rise of complex agrarian-based societies, such as Sumer,
out of a subsistence agricultural and pastoralist
environment, involved the founding of
cities, the extension of citied power over surrounding
villages, and the interaction of both with pastoralists.

This type of social organization
offered new possibilities. Agricultural production and intercity
trading, particularly in
luxury goods, increased. Some individuals were able to take advantage of the
manual labour of others to amass enough wealth to patronize a wide range of
arts and crafts. Of
these, a few were able to establish territorial monarchies and
foster religious institutions with wider appeal. Gradually the familiar troika
of court, temple, and market emerged. The new ruling groups cultivated
skills for
administering and integrating non-kin-related groups. They benefited
from the increased use of writing and, in many cases, from the adoption of a
single writing system, such as the cuneiform, for administrative use. New
institutions, such as coinage,
territorial deities, royal priesthoods, and standing armies, further enhanced
their power.

In such town-and-country complexes the
pace of change quickened
enough so   at a well-placed individual might see the
effects of his actions in his own lifetime and be stimulated to
self-criticism and moral reflection of an unprecedented sort. The religion of
these new social entities reflected and supported the new
social environments. Unlike the religions of small groups, the religions of
complex societies
focused on deities, such as Marduk, Isis, or Mithra, whose
appeal was not limited to one small area or group and whose powers were much less
fragmented. The relationship
of earthly existence to the afterlife became more problematic, as evidenced
by the elaborate death rites of
pharaonic Egypt. Individual religious action began to compete
with communal worship and ritual; sometimes it promised spiritual
transformation and transcendence of a new sort, as illustrated in the pan-Mediterranean
mystery religions. Yet large-scale organization had introduced
social and economic injustices that rulers and religions could address
but not resolve. To many, an absolute ruler uniting a plurality
of ethnic, religious, and interest groups offered the best hope of justice.

Islamic history / edited by Laura S.
Etheredge. Britannica Educational Publishing

(a
trademark of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.): New York.