How did Muhammad's background influence his beliefs and the early development of Islam?

Answer 1

Mohammed was certainly a product of the Arabian World and Islam's orientation is reflective of his upbringing in several ways:

• Mohammed stressed the unity of people before God, which came from the fact that the numerous Arab tribes fought with each other in very inhumane ways.
• Mohammed grew up in a very warlike Arabia and commanded several major battles (such as al-Badr, Uhud, and the Battle of the Trench), which resulted in Islam having numerous doctrines about how war could be conducted.
• Mohammed came from the wealthy and powerful tribe of Qoreish, which led to the Hadith that the rulers of the Islamic Empires should come from the descendants of Qoreish.
• Mohammed was exposed to heretical forms of Judaism and Christianity and therefore the Qur'an condemns these religions based on beliefs that orthodox Judaism and Christianity do not have: such as the "Jewish belief" that Uzair, Ezra, or Azra'il is the Son of God -or- the "Christian belief" that the Trinity is composed of the Father, the Son, and Mary.
• Early Islam's exposure to Jewish Rabbis and the Talmud created a basic framework for how Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) would be organized.

Answer 2

For the basic Islam religion fundamentals that form the Muslim background you may refer to the question below for details. It is enough to mention here that the basic background is to worship Allah (God in English and same God worshiped in Judaism and Christianity) as the one and only one God with no partner, no son, no father, no companion, no associate, and no equivalence.

Answer 3

Prophet Muhammad was working as shepherd and then as merchant. He was illiterate and was titled among his people, before being prophet, as the honest the trustful.