Why was Muhammad's teachings of Islam not accepted in Mecca?

Answer 1

The spread of monotheism threatened Mecca's economy, which relied on the wealth of non-Muslim pilgrims

Answer 2

This is actually written in the Muslim histories, that the Quraishi accused Mohamed not of being a prophet of God, but a power hungry war monger using a cult. That accusation against Islam, is not new; the very first to make it were in fact other Arabs, Mohamed's own kinsmen. Because of his growing power, the Quraishi became frightened and tried to bribe him, and even saying things such as "alright Mohamed, we are sorry we treated you like crap for most of your life because we are rich and you are power its clear you want power, so we will give you power, and wealth just stop it with the violence and war cult." Mohamed however, and Muslims point this as proof that he was "sincere" in his faith, rejected their offer, and made war on the Quraish anyway.

The Arabs rejected his teachings for the following reasons;

1) Although officially, Arab society was polytheistic and "idolatrous," the truth was, pre-Islamic modern-day-Saudi-Arabia Arabs, were very secular. Gambling, drinking and wild partying was common, and yes, so was adultery, fornication and lots and lots of sex that people were not supposed to be having. As a matter of fact many Muslims have told me that in pre-Islamic Arabia, a lot of westerners would feel right at home. The society, was largely, very secular, especially amongst the wealthy no one believed in anything. What few Arabs were religious, followed the "religion of Abraham." There is a faith in the near east, specifically the Arabian peninsula, in fact even older, than both Judaism and Islam. Although Muslims make the claim, that Abraham was in fact a Muslim, and that Islam is the world's oldest religion, there is also another story, that prior to Islam Arabs followed a "corrupt version" of Islam, at least the religious ones. Pre-Islamic Arab tradition holds that Abraham was a monotheist, who followed Islam, and that later on, Arabs corrupted it, and followed a "simpler version" of Islam. By that I mean, the "Abraham religion" was a religion largely devoid of ritual, with very simple rules, and belief in one God, it did not have ellaborate ritual, it made no use of temples, and although it did call for ethical living, again the ethics were simple. That "Abraham religion" has been largely discarded by the Arabs. If we are to take that Arab tradition as actual history, we can asume there was a monotheistic faith that Abraham followed and, that in fact, both Judaism and Islam, are corrupt. Perhaps both sides of his bloodline, are guilty of corrupting the true faith, while people not of his bloodline, corrupted the teachings of a man (Jesus), who tried to remind people of what the true faith was. Jesus, may have been sent by God, not to start a new religion, but to remind people of what the old one was, the Catholic church, corrupted his teachings, and even added things of their own. It is entirely possible that what Abraham followed, was a religion not entirely dissimilar from Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, a religion based on simplicity, compassion, humility, and the love of fellow men and God, that last part added because we are talking about Abraham, all the ritual, all the rules, these things were only added later, as that "true faith" of Abraham, was corrupted, Jesus was sent, to inform everyone, that the Judaism the people were following, was not the way things were supposed to be. Of course believe what you like, I am under no authority by anyone, nor do I have proof, to claim all of this is true however, the theory is compelling.

2) The Quraishi and Medinan Jews alike, the ones who were their business partners, stood much to loose not just from the selling of idols, from which a chunk of their income did indeed come from, but the fact that Mohamed's raids were threatening the spice road caravans. The Middle East in fact had two roads; the most well known was the silk road, and throughout the western world this road has been the most famous, with the Arabian peninsula, specifically the Levant, being the "gateway to the east." The silk road was an overland route that went straight to China, however lesser known to the general public but well known among history buffs, historians, and anthropologists, was the spice road. The spice round went from the Levant, south, through modern day Saudi Arabia, and the ports of The Yemen. Yemen, and Oman, used to be one kingdom, its ports got their wealth both from fishing, and trade with India. In fact, the children's storybook sailor Sinbad, was a Yemeni Arab. The spice road was called, well, the spice road, because that is what India is famous for; I think the country of India has over 5,000 varieties of spices, several of which are valuable food preservatives. Also not all spices are consumables, as food I mean; some spices are needed for everything ranging from something as mundane as bathing, to scents for religious ritual, the people of India have all kinds of uses for them. I could be mistaken but I think there are even smokeable spices. Spices you smoke, that is, that are actually beneficial, not detrimental, to your health. The inhaling of certain plant smokes, are medicinal treatment to clear up sinuses, cure acne, and even relieve symptoms of the common cold. As you can imagine, considering the sheer variety, for the Arabs of the south Arabian peninsula although their lands are mostly desert with negligible amounts of farm land, the spice trade was extremely lucrative, and one of the ways Mohamed weakened his enemies was by pulling a "Francis Drake" on the Quraish, before Francis Drake was born. Historical reference to the British pirate, later in history; as you know, Drake raided Spanish galleons, the purpose was to slowly chip away at Spain's power over the seas. Mohamed, had a similar plan; he raided caravans, to slowly chip away at the Quraish's power, that is why Khalid was sent to hunt him down, however, Khalid betrayed the Quraish, and that changed everything. It was Khalid's betrayal of the Quraish, not Mohamed's own efforts, which ultimately led to the birth of Islam, because had Khalid not betrayed the Quraish, Mohamed may have eventually ended up dead at the hands of some roving bad of Beduin raiders. One set of desert bandits steals crap, another set will steal it from you; that is the only law of the desert. Khalid, provided valuable man power for one, in addition to his own tactical experience. Khalid was no mere desert thug; being a wealthy Quraishi, I think the man was educated in the best tactical schools of both Byzantium, and Persia, Khalid, to put this in a modern perspective, would be the equivalent of someone who graduated from West Point, and then went to Sandhurst in England to get ANOTHER degree, in the same subject but from a British perspective. Between his experience in the deserts of Arabia, and having an education in military tactics both from a western and middle eastern school he was indeed a formidable enemy. Additionally, Khalid's own father, had taught him Beduin war tactics hence "the sword of Allah" as Muslims call him, had a well rounded education, when it came to military matters. This would prove crucial to Islam later on; Khalid's military background is what led to the creation of highly trained and well disciplined armies, the foundational generation which, carrying a military tradition would lead to an ever growing war machine, due to the perks given to men in Islam, that would conquer a large chunk of the eastern hemisphere, the modern day lands of Islam within the Eurasian landmass. Early Muslim Armies, combined the war traditions of desert beduin, the military discipline of Byzantium, and the sheer experience of Persia a culture which, due to its extreme age, had encountered all kinds of situations regarding war. History is important to a strategist, because it teaches generals what NOT to do, and, at that time in near eastern history no one had more military experience than the Persians; they had literally seen it all, up until that time period in their history. Khalid effectively combined these influences to create an extremely deadly military machine driven by religious fanaticism.

3) The Arabs of Mohamed's time were hedonists, as described above, and rather than saying "oh no, I should be more moral!" if you go to, say, a frat house, and say something like "you are making Jesus cry," they are not going to look at you and think that, they are going to look at you and think an annoying turd is there to ruin their fun. I hate to put it so bluntly but that's how it is; for a person who, all they do is party, and thanks to their wealthy they live an irresponsible lifestyle, they don't care about ethics, just the best way to feel good, at whatever cost, even if it means hurting someone. In time, not even drug use, sex and drinking will not do it anymore so, they will engage in more grotesque and twisted things, by the time a person's mind is that far gone, not religion, not Aristotelian philosophy on proper living, not Islam, not Buddhism no ethical or moral system will bring them out of it. For hedonistic people, the "traditional" hedonistic lifestyle of sex, drinking and drug use just won't hack it, it gets boring, so, to get an emotional high, to "feel good," they may engage in things such as acts of cruelty, it could be the ruining of marriages, or even, more disturbingly, the molesting of children, by any stretch of the imagination there are no dephs a hedonist won't sink to, someone like Mohamed shows up they are not going to "repent" but look for a way to get rid of that "annoying Turd ruining our fun." As many Arabs of the time were wealthy, that is the way Mohamed was viewed, especially by the Quraish, and many wealthy Medinan Jews. You think "western decadence" is new? You think white people are the first people to engage in "decadence?" If you think that then I feel sorry for you; talk to any Chinese person, they will tell you that in their history, they engaged in decadence so grotesque, it would make a modern westerner blush, or, more likely, cringe. See though while the rich people were partying and having sex with donkeys, like many Hollywood celebrities do at wild parties, the poor people were barely eating, and so dirt poor, many wore the same clothing for years, even decades some Arab families of Mohamed's time were so poor clothes became family HEIRLOOMS. Not able to afford new clothes, the moment a father died, his son would inherit his clothes. Meanwhile, Quraishi men and women were gambling, drinking, engaging in acts of cruelty and just for the malicious fun of it too. In modern times, with a Hollywood celebrity for example, when drinking, partying, sex and drug use just "gets boring," to have fun, they may engage in acts of cruelty just to "feel good." They could for example sleep with your wife or husband to cause unhappiness in your house, or, tamper with your DNA tests if you are looking for your family; if its cruel, because of their "if it feels good do it" mindset, they'll do it. Just to feel good, they have partied so much, had sex with so many people,and done so many drugs the only thing that will get them off, the only thing that is "fun" for them anymore is malicious cruelty. The Arabs of Mohamed's time were no different. Philosophers and religious types alike have for centuries, looked down on hedonists because they are seen as parasites; they only exist to cause harm, and live only for themselves, they don't even try to do good, like answering people's questions on wiki answers, for example ;-)

4) Mohamed was seen as scum; again the Quraish tribe, they were a bunch of snobs, and don't take this the wrong way, or as disrespectful to the prophet's first wife, and I do not mean to try to make you angry but, chances are, being a wealthy woman herself, between husbands, Khadija probably slept with a lot of men, or at least a handful, before meeting Mohamed. Remember she was a member of the wealthy elite, and as a member of those social circles no doubt she was used. Remember that Khadija was Islam's first convert, and she was already middle aged when she converted, actually more than middle aged, already starting old age. I mean no disrespect, I'm just letting you know, that is the likelihood given the society of Arabs she came from. I'm sorry if what I said was offensive, if you happen to be a Muslim.

Answer 3

There's an old saying, "A prophet has honor everywhere -- except in his home town." If you know someone from his youth, you know all his foibles and you get to thinking of him as nobody very important. Also, Mohammed's message implied a financial loss for lots of people who were profitting from the polytheism system in place, thank you very much.

That's why Islam's starting date is not the first of the Prophet's revelations, but the move to Yathrib.

Answer 4

Because people didn´t follow the rules, they had violence, etc.

Answer 5

they did not really care

Answer 6

The spread of monotheism threatened Mecca's economy, which relied on the wealth of non-Muslim pilgrims