Short answer
The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) brought Arabia a whole way of life from God (﷾), and it replaced the cruelest customs with law. When he began in 610, some Arabs buried baby daughters alive. A dead man's widow could be inherited like his property. Tribes lived by blood feud (killing for revenge), and lenders charged interest. People drank, gambled and read their fate in the flight of birds. Within twenty-three years the revelation he brought had forbidden all of it. At his farewell pilgrimage he cancelled the old blood claims and the interest owed on loans, starting with his own family's. Women were given shares of inheritance and a say in their own marriage. Freeing slaves was made a way to atone for sin. The 360 idols around the Ka'ba were struck down. In Matthew, Jesus says false prophets are known by their fruits. This was the fruit.
Full explanation
The test Jesus gave
In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus tells his followers how to judge a prophet: by his fruits. A tree is judged by what grows on it. The blocks below set the Arabia the Prophet (ﷺ) found in 610 beside the Arabia he left in 632.
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
| Custom | Before | After the revelation |
|---|---|---|
| Baby daughters | Some were buried alive | Forbidden; the buried girl is a witness on the Day of Judgement |
| Widows | Inherited like property | Heirs with fixed shares, married only with their consent |
| Killing | The blood feud, passed from father to son | Old blood claims cancelled; equal punishment, or compensation, or pardon |
| Lending | Interest charged | Interest still owed given up |
| Wine and gambling | Common | Forbidden, in stages |
| Omens | Fate read in the flight of birds and in divining arrows | Swept away; soothsayers not to be consulted |
| The Ka'ba | 360 idols | The idols struck down; a house for the worship of the One God (﷾) |
Daughters buried alive
The Qur'an describes an Arab father whose face darkened at the news of a daughter. He was torn between keeping her in shame and burying her in the dust. Ibn Abbas was the Prophet's (ﷺ) cousin. He said that whoever wants to see the ignorance of the Arabs should read the verses condemning those who killed their children. The Prophet (ﷺ) said God (﷾) had forbidden burying daughters alive. The Qur'an makes the buried girl herself a witness on the Day of Judgement. She is asked for what crime she was killed.
“When news is brought to one of them, of (the birth of) a female (child), his face darkens, and he is filled with inward grief! With shame does he hide himself from his people, because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain it on (sufferance and) contempt, or bury it in the dust? Ah! what an evil (choice) they decide on?”
“Lost are those who slay their children, from folly, without knowledge, and forbid food which Allah hath provided for them, inventing (lies) against Allah. They have indeed gone astray and heeded no guidance.”
Ibn Abbas said that whoever wants to know the ignorance of the Arabs before Islam should read Surat al-An'am from verse 130 on, where the Qur'an condemns those who killed their children out of folly.
Al-Mughira reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said Allah has forbidden you to be undutiful to your mothers, to withhold what you owe or demand what you are not owed, and to bury your daughters alive.
“When the female (infant), buried alive, is questioned - For what crime she was killed;”
Widows and women's rights
Before Islam a dead man's relatives could inherit his widow. They could marry her themselves, marry her off or forbid her to marry. The Qur'an forbade this. A woman who had been treated as part of a dead man's estate became an heir to it. The Qur'an gave a fixed share to women as well as men. The Prophet (ﷺ) ruled that no woman is to be married without her consent. A married woman kept her own earnings and her dower (the gift a husband gives his wife when they marry). English law gave a married woman full ownership of her own property only in the Married Women's Property Act of 1882. That was twelve centuries later.
Ibn Abbas explains that before Qur'an 4:19 was revealed, when a man died his relatives had the right to inherit his widow. One of them could marry her, or they could marry her off, or keep her from marrying at all, and they had more say over her than her own family. The verse was revealed to end this.
“O ye who believe! Ye are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should ye treat them with harshness, that ye may Take away part of the dower ye have given them,-except where they have been guilty of open lewdness; on the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If ye take a dislike to them it may be that ye dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good.”
“From what is left by parents and those nearest related there is a share for men and a share for women, whether the property be small or large,-a determinate share.”
“In what ye leave, their share is a fourth, if ye leave no child; but if ye leave a child, they get an eighth; after payment of legacies and debts.”
Abu Huraira reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said a woman who has been married before is not to be married again without being consulted, and a virgin is not to be married without her permission.
“And give the women (on marriage) their dower as a free gift; but if they, of their own good pleasure, remit any part of it to you, Take it and enjoy it with right good cheer.”
“And in no wise covet those things in which Allah Hath bestowed His gifts More freely on some of you than on others: To men is allotted what they earn, and to women what they earn: But ask Allah of His bounty. For Allah hath full knowledge of all things.”
Allowed a married woman in England to own and control property in her own right, as if she were unmarried. Before it, most of what a wife owned passed to her husband; an 1870 Act had let her keep only her own earnings and a few other kinds of property.
The blood feud ended by law
In pagan Arabia a killing was answered by a killing, and a feud could pass from father to son. At the farewell pilgrimage, his last pilgrimage to Mecca, the Prophet (ﷺ) declared blood-revenge abolished. This was the blood-revenge of the Days of Ignorance, the Muslim name for Arabia before Islam. He began with a claim of his own family. The Qur'an also told believers to give up whatever usury (lending at interest) was still owed to them. Arabia already knew blood-money, a payment to the family of the person killed. The Qur'an kept that just custom and made it God's (﷾) law, binding on every tribe. In place of the feud it set a law: equal punishment for murder. The victim's family was free to accept compensation or to pardon.
Jabir ibn Abdullah's long account of the Prophet (ﷺ)'s Farewell Pilgrimage. In his sermon at Arafat the Prophet declared that the lives and property of the people are sacred, that everything of the Days of Ignorance is abolished, and that the blood-revenges of that time are abolished, starting with a claim of his own family.
“O ye who believe! Fear Allah, and give up what remains of your demand for usury, if ye are indeed believers.”
Ibn Abbas tells of the first oath of qasama in the Days of Ignorance. A man of Quraysh killed a hired man of Banu Hashim over a camel's hobble, and Abu Talib gave the killer three choices: pay a hundred camels as blood-money, have fifty of his people swear he did not kill him, or be killed in return.
“O ye who believe! the law of equality is prescribed to you in cases of murder: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, the woman for the woman. But if any remission is made by the brother of the slain, then grant any reasonable demand, and compensate him with handsome gratitude, this is a concession and a Mercy from your Lord. After this whoever exceeds the limits shall be in grave penalty.”
“In the Law of Equality there is (saving of) Life to you, o ye men of understanding; that ye may restrain yourselves.”
Wine and gambling, in stages
The Qur'an forbade wine in three steps, and gambling with it. First it said that the sin in wine and gambling was greater than their profit. Then it forbade coming to prayer drunk. Finally it called both the work of Satan and commanded believers to avoid them. When the final ban was announced, the men in one house in Medina, Abu Talha's, had their wine poured out at once. The wine flowed in the streets, and they never went back to it.
“They ask thee concerning wine and gambling. Say: "In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit." They ask thee how much they are to spend; Say: "What is beyond your needs." Thus doth Allah Make clear to you His Signs: In order that ye may consider-”
“O ye who believe! Approach not prayers with a mind befogged, until ye can understand all that ye say,- nor in a state of ceremonial impurity (Except when travelling on the road), until after washing your whole body. If ye are ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from offices of nature, or ye have been in contact with women, and ye find no water, then take for yourselves clean sand or earth, and rub therewith your faces and hands. For Allah doth blot out sins and forgive again and again.”
“O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satan's handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.”
“Satan's plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer: will ye not then abstain?”
Anas reports that he was serving drinks at the house of Abu Talha when the Prophet (ﷺ) had it announced that alcoholic drink was forbidden. Abu Talha told him to go out and pour the wine away, and it flowed in the streets of Madinah.
Anas was pouring drinks for Abu Talha and others when a man came with the news that wine had been forbidden. They told Anas to spill the pots, and they never asked about it or went back to it again.
Omens and fortune-tellers
Arabia read its fortune in the flight of birds and drew lots with divining arrows (arrows used to decide a matter by chance). It feared the owl and, by many accounts, the month of Safar. It also consulted soothsayers (fortune-tellers). The Qur'an named the divining arrows as Satan's work. The Prophet (ﷺ) swept the omens away in one sentence and told a new Muslim not to consult soothsayers. In place of the bad omen he left a good hope: a good word. The sun once eclipsed on the day his own son died. He told the people it was not for anyone's death.
“O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satan's handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.”
Abu Huraira reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said there is no 'adwa, no tiyara (bad omens from birds), no hama and no Safar. Many scholars explain 'adwa as disease spreading by its own power apart from God, hama as the owl taken as a sign of death, and Safar as the month held unlucky.
Anas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said there is no 'adwa and no tiyara, but that he liked fal. Asked what fal was, he said: a good word.
Mu'awiya ibn al-Hakam, newly Muslim, told the Prophet (ﷺ) that some of his people went to soothsayers. The Prophet said not to go to them. Of those who took omens, he said it was a feeling they found in themselves, and it must not turn them from what they meant to do.
Al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba reports that the sun eclipsed on the day the Prophet's (ﷺ) son Ibrahim died, and people said it had eclipsed because of Ibrahim's death. The Prophet said that the sun and the moon do not eclipse for the death or the birth of anyone, and told them to pray and call on Allah when they see an eclipse.
Tribe, slave and orphan
Arabia prized birth and tribe. One of the Prophet's (ﷺ) Companions (followers who knew him) insulted a man and shamed him over his mother. The Prophet (ﷺ) told him he still had the ways of the Days of Ignorance. He added that slaves are brothers, to be fed and clothed as their masters are. The Qur'an says the most honoured before God (﷾) is the most righteous, not the best-born. It made freeing a slave an atonement for sin and the steep path of virtue. Bilal, a freed African slave, was chosen to give the call to prayer. Those who swallow an orphan's property are told they swallow fire.
Abu Dharr insulted a man and shamed him over his mother. The Prophet (ﷺ) told him he still had some of the ways of the Days of Ignorance. He said that their slaves are their brothers: they must feed them from what they eat, clothe them as they dress, and not load them beyond their strength, or else help them.
“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).”
“Never should a believer kill a believer; but (If it so happens) by mistake, (Compensation is due): If one (so) kills a believer, it is ordained that he should free a believing slave, and pay compensation to the deceased's family, unless they remit it freely. If the deceased belonged to a people at war with you, and he was a believer, the freeing of a believing slave (Is enough). If he belonged to a people with whom ye have treaty of Mutual alliance, compensation should be paid to his family, and a believing slave be freed. For those who find this beyond their means, (is prescribed) a fast for two months running: by way of repentance to Allah: for Allah hath all knowledge and all wisdom.”
“And what will explain to thee the path that is steep?- (It is:) freeing the bondman;”
Ibn Umar reports that when the Muslims in Medina discussed how to call people to prayer, the Prophet (ﷺ) told Bilal to stand and give the call.
“To orphans restore their property (When they reach their age), nor substitute (your) worthless things for (their) good ones; and devour not their substance (by mixing it up) with your own. For this is indeed a great sin.”
“Those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans, eat up a Fire into their own bodies: They will soon be enduring a Blazing Fire!”
War with limits
Arabia kept sacred months of truce but moved them as it pleased, and the Qur'an called that moving an addition to unbelief. Beyond those months, Arabian raiding and revenge had few limits. The Qur'an allowed believers to fight only those who fought them, and forbade them to transgress (go beyond the limits). The Prophet (ﷺ) forbade killing women and children. He told every commander not to steal spoils, break a pledge or mutilate the dead. Khalid ibn al-Walid, a Muslim commander, once killed men who had been trying to say they were Muslims. The Prophet (ﷺ) raised his hands and declared himself free of what Khalid had done.
“Verily the transposing (of a prohibited month) is an addition to Unbelief: the Unbelievers are led to wrong thereby: for they make it lawful one year, and forbidden another year, in order to adjust the number of months forbidden by Allah and make such forbidden ones lawful. The evil of their course seems pleasing to them. But Allah guideth not those who reject Faith.”
“Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors.”
Ibn Umar reports that a woman was found killed during one of the Prophet's (ﷺ) campaigns, and the Prophet forbade the killing of women and children.
Buraida reports that when the Prophet (ﷺ) appointed a commander he told him to fear Allah and to be good to his men, and not to steal from the spoils, break a pledge, mutilate the dead or kill children. Before any fighting the enemy was to be offered three choices: accept Islam; if not, pay the jizya, and then the Muslims must hold back from them; and only if both were refused, fight.
Khalid ibn al-Walid, sent to the tribe of Jadhima, killed and captured men who had been trying to say they had become Muslims. When the Prophet (ﷺ) heard, he raised his hands and said twice: O Allah, I am free of what Khalid has done.
The idols of the Ka'ba
When the Prophet (ﷺ) entered Mecca in 630, 360 idols stood around the Ka'ba, the chief shrine of Arabia. He struck them with the stick in his hand, saying that truth had come and falsehood would not return. The Ka'ba has stood since then as a house for the worship of the One God (﷾).
Abdullah (ibn Mas'ud) reports that when the Prophet (ﷺ) entered Mecca on the day of the conquest, 360 idols stood around the Ka'ba. He struck them with a stick in his hand, saying that truth had come and falsehood would neither begin again nor return.
Did the change hold?
Sahih al-Bukhari 6780 — Kitab al-Hudud (Limits and Punishments set by Allah), hadith 6780
Umar reports that in the Prophet's (ﷺ) lifetime a man named Abdullah was lashed for drinking, and brought again on the same charge. When someone cursed him, the Prophet said not to curse him, because he loved Allah and His Messenger.
Cited for
Men were still punished for drinking in the Prophet's (ﷺ) own lifetime, so the ban did not really change Arabia.
The response
No law is obeyed by every man, in any age. What changed is that drinking had become a crime the law punished, where before it had been the custom of the land. When the ban came, the men in Abu Talha's house poured out their wine at once, and they never went back to it. Even the man lashed for drinking was not cursed. The Prophet (ﷺ) said the man loved God (﷾) and His Messenger.
Where it lands — Individuals still sinned, but the custom was overturned by law. In Islamic law that ban has stood for fourteen centuries.
Perspectives
The Islamic perspective
The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) found Arabia in the Days of Ignorance and left it under a law from God (﷾). The change came verse by verse over twenty-three years and began with his own family. In Islamic law it has never been repealed.
The Qur'an condemned burying daughters alive, and the Prophet (ﷺ) said God (﷾) had forbidden it.
Before Islam a widow could be inherited by her husband's relatives, and Qur'an 4:19 was revealed to forbid it.
The Qur'an gave women a fixed share of inheritance, and the Prophet (ﷺ) forbade marrying a woman without her consent.
At the farewell pilgrimage the Prophet (ﷺ) abolished pagan blood-revenge, beginning with a claim of his own family. The Qur'an ordered believers to give up the usury still owed to them.
The Qur'an replaced the feud with equal punishment for murder, and let the victim's family accept compensation or pardon.
Wine and gambling were forbidden in stages. At the final ban the wine of Medina was poured into the streets.
The Prophet (ﷺ) rejected omens taken from birds and the other superstitions of the Days of Ignorance. He forbade consulting soothsayers.
The Qur'an made freeing a slave an atonement for sin and honour a matter of righteousness, not birth.
The Prophet (ﷺ) forbade killing women and children in war. He told his commanders not to steal spoils, break a pledge or mutilate the dead.
His commander Khalid killed men who were trying to say they had become Muslims. The Prophet (ﷺ) publicly declared himself free of what Khalid had done.
By the test Jesus gave, a prophet is known by his fruits. These are the fruits of the Prophet's (ﷺ) mission.