What is the story of the Muslim faith?
The story of Islam starts with the prophet Muhammad. However, Islam rose in a certain historical and geographical context. What was Arabia like before Muhammad and the rise of the Islamic religion? The Arabian Peninsula was originally the home of nomadic peoples who coped with the desert climate by migrating every season ("Arab" roughly translates as "desert dweller").
When some people groups began to establish settlements around the fifth century BC, many chose Mecca, near the west coast of Saudi Arabia, as their home. It did not offer a favorable climate or many natural resources, but it was the site of the Ka'ba, a large cubical shrine dedicated to various deities. The most sacred place in Islam built by Abraham according to Muslim tradition) constructed around a black stone.
The religion of the Arab world before the advent of Islam was an animistic polytheism. It was believed that the desert was populated with fiery spirits called jinn. Numerous gods were worshipped as well, with most towns having their own patron god. Mecca soon became the religious center, with 360 shrines, one for each day in the lunar year. Local merchants depended heavily on pilgrims to these shrines for their livelihood, a fact which would become significant for Muhammad.