Muhammad Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Islamic social reforms === {{Main|Early social changes under Islam}} According to [[William Montgomery Watt]], religion for Muhammad was not a private and individual matter but "the total response of his personality to the total situation in which he found himself. He was responding [not only]... to the religious and intellectual aspects of the situation but also to the economic, social, and political pressures to which contemporary Mecca was subject."<ref>Cambridge History of Islam (1970), p. 30.</ref> [[Bernard Lewis]] says there are two important political traditions in Islam—Muhammad as a statesman in Medina, and Muhammad as a rebel in Mecca. In his view, Islam is a great change, akin to a revolution, when introduced to new societies.<ref name="LewisNYRB">Lewis [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/4557 (1998)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100408105440/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/4557|date=8 April 2010}}</ref> Historians generally agree that Islamic social changes in areas such as [[social security]], family structure, slavery and the rights of women and children improved on the ''status quo'' of Arab society.<ref name="LewisNYRB" />{{efn|See: *{{harvnb|Watt|1974|p=234}}. *{{harvnb|Robinson|2004|p=21}}. *{{harvnb|Esposito|1998|p=98}}. * R. Walzer, ''Ak̲h̲lāḳ'', [[Encyclopaedia of Islam Online]].}} For example, according to Lewis, Islam "from the first denounced [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocratic]] privilege, rejected hierarchy, and adopted a formula of the career open to the talents".<ref name="LewisNYRB" /> Muhammad's message transformed society and [[Islamic ethics|moral orders]] of life in the Arabian Peninsula; society focused on the changes to perceived identity, [[world view]], and the hierarchy of values.<ref>''Islamic ethics'', [[Encyclopedia of Ethics]].</ref>{{page needed|date=May 2014}} Economic reforms addressed the plight of the poor, which was becoming an issue in [[Jahiliyyah|pre-Islamic]] Mecca.<ref>Watt, ''The Cambridge History of Islam'', p. 34.</ref> The Quran requires payment of an alms tax ([[zakat]]) for the benefit of the poor; as Muhammad's power grew he demanded that tribes who wished to ally with him implement the zakat in particular.{{sfn|Esposito|1998|p=30}}<ref>Watt, ''The Cambridge History of Islam'', p. 52.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page