The Prophet Muhammad (d. 632 CE) began his mission in his hometown Mecca, traditionally believed to have been dominated by idolators. Nonetheless, the precise beliefs of the Prophet's Meccan opponents has been fiercely contested in both Muslim and modern Western scholarship. This article aims to reconstruct the religious worldview of these opponents, relying largely on the Qur'an itself. As the Qur'anic evidence sometimes can (and has) be interpreted in more than one way, the conclusions of this article would inevitably remain tentative. Ideally, we would like to see epigraphic evidence matching our interpretations of the Qur'an. While some pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions have been published from the Hijaz (and in some cases, closer to Mecca), they are yet to shed light on the deities (alihah) that the Meccan pagans are said to have worshipped. In any case, I would maintain that the Qur'an strongly suggests that it addressed (in the surahs revealed in Mecca) a largely pagan audience who: (1) believed in multiple deities, who were subjugated to Allah (2) denied or were doubtful about the reality of the divine judgement and (3) did not believe in the Biblical prophets and scriptures.
The Prophet's opponents in Mecca denied or were sceptical about the reality of the eschatological resurrection and judgement. They appear to have believed that there is nothing beyond the present life (Q. 6:29, 23:37) and that nothing except time destroys us (Q. 45:24). These opponents mockingly asked whether they will be raised or transformed into a new creation (khalq jadid) after they have died and become dust and bones (Q. 13:5, 17:49, 17:98, 23:82, 27:67 37:16, 37:53, 56:47). Clearly, some of the Prophet’s opponents found the very idea of the resurrection preposterous. Their confidence in the falsity of the resurrection is further reflected in Q. 16:38, in which they swear by Allah that He will not resurrect the dead. The point of contention here does not seem to be the modality of the resurrection (i.e. whether it is bodily or spiritual). Nor does it seem likely that these passages are addressed to an audience which believes in the divine judgement but does not act accordingly.1 It is nonetheless true that some passages portray the disbelievers as merely having doubts concerning the resurrection, while Q. 18:36 and 41:50 could suggest that some of them may have considered themselves to be assured of salvation even if they were to return to their Lord. Thus, it is possible that the Prophet’s opponents “occupied different positions along a spectrum or sliding scale shading from resolute denial of the resurrection into grave doubts about it into an agnostic lack of concern with it”
Yet the concept itself was not new to them. Referring to the eschatological resurrection, they state: “We and our forefathers were promised (wu’idnā) this before. This is nothing but legends of the ancients (Q. 23:82, 27:68). Similarly, in Q. 46:15, a disbelieving child asks his parents: “Do you promise me (a-ta'idanini) that I will be raised when many generations have already perished?”. His parents insist that he should believe and that the promise of God (wa’d allah) is true, to which he replies that “this is nothing but legends of the ancients". The phrase asātir al-awwalin (“legends of the ancients”) appears nine times throughout the Qur’an and often seems to refer specifically to God’s promise that mankind will be resurrected.
The Qur'an frequently accuses the Prophet's people of setting another god along with Allah, or worshipping a plurality of deities. The following terms are most commonly associated with their shirk:
In four passages, the mushrikun themselves are presented as using the term alihah to refer to their partners (25:42, 37:36, 38:5-6, 43:58). A large number of passages condemn them for taking a god along with Allah (15:96, 50:26, 51:51). Consistent with this, the Prophet Muhammad is told to preach to his people that we only have one ilah (6:102, 13:30, 14:52, 16:22, 20:8, 35:3, 37:4)
In Q. 10:18, the disbelievers are presented as claiming that the beings they worship are "our intercessors with Allah". Similarly, in Q. 39:43 God rhetorically asks whether they have taken intercessors apart from Him. The verb sh-f-ʿ also occurs commonly in the context of the resurrection. Of the 26 times this root appears in the Qur'an, at least 5 occur in the context of denying that the disbelievers will benefit from intercession on that day (Q. 19:87 20:109, 26:100, 30:13, 40:18, 74:48)
A large number of passages criticise those who claim that Allah has, or has taken (ittakhadha), walad (2:116, 4:171, 6:101, 10:68, 18:4, 19:88, 21:26, 37:152, 43:81, cf. the denial of the same in 17:111, 19:35, 19:91-92, 23:91, 25:2, 39:4, 72:3 & 112:3). While a few of these verses are referring to Christians, the majority are clearly referring to pagans. Thus, Q. 21:26 responds to the pagans' claim that Allah has taken walad by saying that they are merely honored servants. Similarly, Q. In four passages, the Qur'an condemns those who claim that Allah has taken daughters while preferring sons for themselves (16:57, 37:149-52, 43:16-9 & 52:39).
There is no explicit evidence from the Qur'an that the mushrikun referred to their deities as angels. Nonetheless, this is implicitly suggested by Q.