How Qusay gained power in Mecca
Sirat p. 52-53
Qusayy came to the Arabs with his tribesmen from Quraysh and Kinana and Qudaa at al-Awaba saying: "We have a better right to this authority than you." Severe fighting followed, resulting in the defeat of Sufa and Qusayy assumed their authority.
This tale of his 5th generation ancestor claiming authority over Mecca would probably be known to Muhammad. Unfortunately, it is not explained exactly why Qusayy would have more right over Mecca than the Sufa clan, but an arbiter (Yamar b. Auf) confirmed it, and it became so.
Thus Qusayy gained authority over the temple and Mecca, and brought in his people from their dwellings to Mecca. He behaved as a king over his tribe and the people of Mecca, and so they made him a king; but he had guaranteed to the Arabs their customary rights because he felt that it was a duty upon himself, which he had no right to alter.
Sounds reasonably peaceful. He respects the rights that people used to have.
Qusayy was the first of B. Kab b. Luayy to assume kingship and to be obeyed by his people as king. He held the keys of the temple, the right to water the pilgrims from the well of Zamzam, to feed the pilgrims, to preside at assemblies, and to hand out the war banners.
With all these priviledges, Qusayy was a powerful person. The right to water and feed the pilgrims were the main sources of income in Mecca, which was no fertile oasis like Yathrib or Khaybar. It might sound a bit despotic that he had all of these priviledges as an individual. The reality in such societies was usually that the king would consult the heads of tribes, effectively sharing the power somewhat.
Quraysh called him the 'uniter' because he had brought them together and they drew a happy omen from his rule.
His authority among the Quraysh during his life and after his death was like a religious law which could not be infringed.
Qusayy was not considered a religious ruler, but did hold absolute authority as if we was. This perception of religion as an absolute command continues right into Islam.
He chose for himself the house of meeting and made a door which led to the mosque of the Ka'aba; in it the Quraysh used to settle their affairs.
The rule of Qusayy is similar to the rule that Muhammad would later set up in Medina.
The pillars of Islam
Sirat p. 53
A man told Umar b. al-Khattab, when he was caliph, the story of Qusayy, how he united Quraysh and expelled Khuzaa and B. Bakr from Mecca, and how he gained control of the temple and the affairs in Mecca. Umar made no attempt to gainsay him. (Tabari: Qusayy's authority in Mecca, where he enjoyed great esteem, remained uncontested. He left the pilgrimage unchanged because he deemed it a religious taboo.
This, too, mirrors what Muhammad would later do at Mecca - take control of the Ka'aba and the town. And, just like Qusayy, Muhammad let the pilgrimage (Hajj and Umra) continue unchanged from the pre-Islamic era. A historian might note that since these are Islamic sources, it might actually be the other way around, that the image of Qusayy may have been modified using Muhammad as a model. As Ibn Ishaq would have said: "Only Allah knows the truth."
When Qusayy grew old and feeble, he said to his son: "By Allah, my son I will put you on a par with the others; though they have greater reputation than yours; none of them shall enter the Ka'aba until you open it for them; none shall give the Quraysh the war banner but you with your own hand; none shall drink in Mecca except you allow it; and no pilgrim shall eat food unless you provide it; and Quraysh shall not decide any matter except in your house."
Muhammad might have seen himself as the rightful heir to this position. However, the tradition in Arabia was that only adults would inherit anything, and since Muhammad was an orphan, he recieved nothing. Wether he was the rightful heir by lineage is uncertain.
The religious tax
Sirat p. 55
The Rifada was a tax which Quraysh used to pay from their property to Qusayy at every festival. With it, he used to provide food for the pilgrims who were unable to afford their own provisions. Qusayy had laid this as a duty upon the Quraysh, saying: "You are Allah's neighbours, the people of this temple and sanctuary. The pilgrims are Allah's guests and the visitors to His temple and have the highest claim to your generosity; so provide food and dring for them during the pilgrimage until they depart out of your territory." Accordingly, they used to pay him every year a tax on their flocks, and he used to provide food for the people therefrom, while they were at Mina, and his people carried out this order of his during the time of ignorance until Islam came. To this very day it is the food which the sultan provides every year in Mina until the pilgrimage is over.
It is interesting to see the pillars of Islam present in the pre-Islamic period, usually called the 'Period of Ignorance'. We have previously covered faith (in Allah), to which Muhammad added belief in himself as a prophet, as well as the the rituals of the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages. Here we have a third, payment of tax for the poor. This is a point where Muhammad made a real change from paganism to Islam: He replaced and extended the Rifada tax, which was directly connected to the pilgrimage, with the Zakat, payable to himself and his successors everywhere. Obviously, during his time in Medina, it made no sense that Muhammad should collect a tax for the pilgrimage directed by polytheists in Mecca, but we know that he collected the Zakat tax with vigor.
Qusayy was never contradicted, nor was any measure of his overthrown.
While history possibly has been polished somewhat during the five generations from Qusayy to Muhammad, it is worth noting that one of the things Muhammad detested most was contradiction and dissension.
The pillars are tradition
Sirat p. 57
Muhammad said: "Whatever alliance there was in the days of ignorance, Islam strengthens it."
It is actually surprising that the Quran does not explain the five pillars of Islam. One should expect that the fundamental rituals of the religion would be described in the fundamental book. The reason might be suprisingly simple: There was no need, as the rituals were known to the Arabs already. Muhammad changed some of these, in particular the Zakat and the addition of himself as the messenger of Allah, but otherwise accepted the existing rituals. The hadith explains much of the life of Muhammad and the Arabs, and the details of the pilgrimage rituals. This is fortunate, as without the hadith, there would be no written explanation for them.
One may wonder how large the difference between paganism and Islam really is. The similarities are not limited to the five official pillars. We saw Qusayy take control of Mecca through war, and the main change Muhammad made to this was to declare the war holy (Jihad). Another similarity alive today without formally being a pillar of Islam is the veneration of the Ka'aba itself, the use of a mosque as the place of worship, as well as details such as shaving the hair, use of the pilgrim clothes, circumambulation and rubbing the black stone.
A variant account
An alternative from Bukhari
Interestingly, other variations of the five pillars exist:
Bukhari:V1B2N50 “‘Apostle, order us to do some religious deeds that we may enter Paradise.’ The Prophet asked them, ‘Do you know what it means to believe in Allah Alone?’ They replied, ‘Allah and His Apostle know better.’ The Prophet said, ‘It means: 1. To testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah, and Muhammad is Allah’s Apostle. 2. To perform prayers perfectly. 3. To pay the Zakat obligatory tax. 4. To observe the Ramadhan fast. 5. And to pay one fifth of the booty taken in Allah’s Cause.’”
In this version, the pilgrimage is missing. It might be that this tradition comes from a time before Muhammad conquered Mecca. It would not make much sense to request the Muslims to go on a pilgrimage to a pagan shrine. The fact that the fifth pillar is giving Muhammad one fifth of the booty stolen in the cause of Allah is also meaningful in this context. Worth remembering is that the holy month of Ramadan and the fasting (Tahannuth) was observed by the pagans, too.
Worth noting is also the lack of similarity to Judaism (or Christianity, for that matter). In spite of Jews being present in Arabia for a millenium, not much cross-fertilazation seems to have taken place.
The main item that is somewhat similar is the notion of fasting, but Islamic fasting is quite different from the Jewish, which is primarily held at Yom Kippur (the day of atonement), not a full month. The regret and rectification of the Jewish fasting is possibly present in the Islamic notion that the Ramadan fast purifies.
Before we enter events directly related to Muhammad, the Sirat presents a quite extensive recounting of how Abdul-Muttalib, the grandfather of Muhammad, dug out the well of Zamzam, one of the holy places of Islam. While the story is too elaborate to repeat here, the reverence to Allah, as seen in his exclamations 'Allah-u-Akbar' at important moments, is worth noting. Wikipedia has a quite detailed article about the well of Zamzam and its use today.
