A sociological study of lack of success of Islam in Mecca and its flourishing in Medina

The fact that the Prophet did not achieve much success in Mecca in converting the people to Islam after 13 years of missionary work and that the people of Medina turned to Islam although the Prophet was not physically present is one of the little understood questions in the history of Islam. The present paper seeks to study, from a sociological point of view, the reason why the people of Mecca, mostly the prophet’s countrymen and relatives, showed resistance and the people of Medina welcomed the new religion. To answer this question, the writer draws on the geographical conditions of Arabia and its effect on the life and culture of the people of Mecca and Medina. The writer also considers the class structure and the political, economic and social relationships between the people in the two cities. To these the writer adds the teachings of the new religion in an attempt to find different reactions showed by the people of the two cities. The results of this analysis are expressed in the form of the following hypotheses: The reason why Islam did not flourish in Mecca was that the teachings of Islam were against the traditions and beliefs, against the political, economic and social order dominating the society and against the interests of aristocracy. The reason why Islam flourished in Medina was the fact that Arabs lived in proximity to Jews and the defeat of Ows tribe from Khazraj and lack of a powerful alliance of aristocrats to fight Islam.