How did the early companions of Prophet Muhammad reconcile their pre-existing beliefs and practices with the new message that he brought? What factors might have influenced their acceptance of his teachings?

 When it came to the Arab Pagans, I would argue, that Islam was not much of a lifestyle change. Yes, all the gods of the Kaaba were collapsed into one deity, Allah. But other than that Islam is actually not that different to how the Arab Pagans lived before Muhammad.

Ghazw

In the culture of pre-Islamic Bedouin, "ghazwa" (from which we got the term Razzia/raid) referred to a form of limited warfare that was more akin to brigandage. This style of conflict typically avoided direct battles, focusing instead on skirmishes of raiding and plundering, often targeting livestock, similar to cattle raiding. This “activity” was undisputedly one of the ways the clans of Arabia founded their wealth. A renowned Bedouin poet of the Umayyad era, al-Kutami, famously penned verses that encapsulate this practice: "Our business is to make raids on the enemy, our neighbor, and even our brother, should no other target be available."

Scholar William Montgomery Watt suggested that Prophet Muhammad effectively redirected this form of tribal warfare against his adversaries, forming the cornerstone of his military strategy. Watt claimed that the notable Battle of Badr originated as such a raid. For me personally, that is highly possible, since Muhammad started his raids against Meccan caravans as soon as he found save harbor in Medina.

What Muhammad did was sanctifying these skirmishes into what later would become the doctrine of Jihad reflected in verses from the Qur’an such as:

"Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties [in exchange] for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah, so they kill and are killed. [It is] a true promise [binding] upon Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Quran. And who is truer to his covenant than Allah? Rejoice in your transaction which you have contracted. And it is that which is the great attainment."

Qur’an 9:111

Muhammad offered the Arab pagans a better deal: go on raids with him; survive and you get booty and slaves in this world. Perish, and you’ll get the same and more in the hereafter!

A whole Surah/chapter of the Qur’an is dedicated to regulating how Muslims should divide their war booty. The Quranic chapter (Surah) that deals extensively with the topic of war booty is Surah Al-Anfal, which is the 8th chapter of the Quran. This Surah includes detailed guidelines and principles regarding the distribution and handling of war booty or spoils of war.

Religion of Peace anyone?

Furthering, the Hadith goes into vivid detail about the bounties the fallen Muslims would get in Paradise:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, "The first batch (of people) who will enter Paradise will be (glittering) like the full moon, and the batch next to them will be (glittering) like the most brilliant star in the sky. Their hearts will be as if the heart of a single man, for they will have neither enmity nor jealousy amongst themselves; everyone will have two wives from the houris, (who will be so beautiful, pure and transparent that) the marrow of the bones of their legs will be seen through the bones and the flesh."

[Sahih (Authentic)]

Sahih al-Bukhari 3254

The Holy Months

When I first read the Qur’an as an adult, I always wondered about this verse:

But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.

Qur’an 9:5

No, I was not wondering about all the violence, but rather the “forbidden months!” That there are several holy months where fighting was forbidden? Yet, the Qur’an seems to be curiously mute, on when and why a Muslim is not supposed to go to war? The Qur’an must have drawn upon earlier (pagan) traditions.

Muslims agree that these months are include Dhu al-Qadah, Dhu'l-Hijjah, Muharram and Rajab, yet when asked why these months are supposedly holy, we are diverted to a vague excuse that it was part of Abraham’s Law. Of course, we can’t find anything of the like in the Torah. But anything that Islam writes off as coming from “Abraham” is a cue for us to find rituals and beliefs adapted from the Arab Pagans.

Rituals of the Kaaba

The Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, is deeply rooted in pre-Islamic pagan customs, carrying forward many traditions that existed long before the advent of Islam. Before Islam, the Kaaba, which is now the central focus of the Hajj, was a sacred site for various Pagan Arab tribes. These tribes would converge on Mecca for pilgrimage, performing rituals that, in many respects, resembled those practiced by Muslims today. They would circumambulate the Kaaba, adhere to a state of sanctity (Ihram), and perform acts of animal sacrifice. The Kaaba itself housed numerous idols representing different deities, under the patronage of their chief deity, Hubal. This annual gathering was not only a religious event but also an important occasion for trade and poetry competitions, making Mecca a significant cultural and commercial center. It is on one of these poetry readings, the Muhammad won over a following from the people of Yathrib (later Medina).

With the rise of Islam, Muhammad realigned these very same rituals with the worship of Allah. The Hajj was transformed into an act of devotion to the Allah, stripping away the polytheistic rituals and idols associated with the Kaaba. Muhammad's 'Farewell Pilgrimage' in 632 AD set a new precedent, effectively establishing the rituals of Hajj as they are known in Islam today. These included the Tawaf (circumambulation of the Kaaba), Sa'i (walking between the hills of Safa and Marwah), and the standing on the Plain of Arafat, a pivotal event in the Islamic Hajj.

Contemporary Muslims teach the narrative that all these customs have their origins with Abraham and his son Ishmael. But that is of course a virtual impossibility, since Mecca is a fairly young town, and we also can’t find parallel practices to the Hajj anywhere else than those practiced by Pagan Arabs. As we have seen in the preceding segment, Islam seems to have a penchant to claim its heritage from Abraham’s practices, to distance itself from its pagan past.

Conclusions

For the early companions of Muhammad, joining Islam wouldn’t have been a very drastic lifestyle change. What Muhammad did was mainly giving new meaning to things pagan Arabs have been doing for centuries: raiding caravans, living off war-booty, and doing religious rituals around the Kaaba. This is another demonstration that Muhammad was first and foremost a shrewd politician, rather than a cleric. Maybe this was the reason Muhammad insisted on being called a prophet who claimed to be descended from the biblical Abraham?