Unleashing the Beast

R EVELATIONS IN THE A RABIAN D ESERT / 67

kiss the black stone. On the stone, the inhabitants of Mecca had placed different god and goddesses. The pilgrimages were so popular that a large stone building was erected around the Ka'ba itself. By the fifth century, the members of the tribe of Qurays were the guardians of the Ka'ba and were the dominant tribe in Mecca. They provided the arrangements for all pilgrims visiting the Ka'ba, and the senior members of the group collected income from the pilgrims. At the time of Mohammed, there were 360 different idols sitting on the black stone in the Ka'ba, and Mohammed's grandfather was the keeper of the keys to the Ka'ba. This was the setting in Mecca at the time Mohammed began praying and fasting. As Mohammed grew older, he spent time on the hills outside the city of Mecca. In 610 A.D., when Mohammed was 40, he claimed to have heard a voice speaking to him while praying in a cave above Mecca. Fearful, he ran home where his wife wrapped him in a blanket. Later, he heard the voice again. This time, he said, the voice told him that he was the chosen messenger of God to bring his people the Arabs, the message of one God who controlled all things. Allegedly, he heard the voice saying, "You, wrapped in your mantle, arise and warn." According to Muslim beliefs, Mohammed then received a series of visions from an angel whom he said was Gabriel. The early messages consisted of God's goodness and power, the need to return to God, and the final judgment. He declared there was only one God and his name (in Arabic) was Allah. It was believed that Allah was