In chapter one specifically, Armstrong really discusses the socioeconomic conditions of Arabia and how they changed in the few centuries leading up to Muhammad's first revelations. In my opinion, the increase of wealth, due to the creation of a stationary lifestyle in big cities, like Mecca, contributed to a move away from the fatalist life view of the Bedouins. The Quraysh especially, now viewed wealth as the solution to a former life of constant struggle and inevitable, miserable, death. One of the prominent messages of Muhammad early on his teachings, was the idea that only Allah has the answers, and the solutions to the lives of humans.
How much did the changing socioeconomic conditions of Arabia influence the receptiveness of Islam? (It seems that it helped some and hurt others)
I feel like in any society that is based on socioeconomic growth that there will be those who are living well and those who are not. Those in power are living wealthy, happy lives while the poor are barely surviving. Because the Quraysh wanted to keep this new power they oppressed those below them, and as such these lower people began to look to Islam because it promised a change.
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