{{Short description|7th-century Arab polytheists who fought early Muslims}} {{italic title}} {{Islam}} '''''Mushrikun''''' ({{Langx|ar|المشركون|translit=al-Mushrikūn}} or {{Langx|ar|المشركين|translit=al-Mushrikīn|label=none}}, singular {{langx|ar|مشرك|translit=mushrik|label=none}}) is the term used in the Quran to refer to the non-Muslim Arabs who opposed the prophet Muhammad and his followers in the early 7th century. The term, which is related to the noun ''shirk'', may be translated as "associators", as in "those who associate [with Allah]" and "make [equal] with Allah another deity". It is often translated into English as "polytheists", although some scholars believe the ''mushrikun'' criticized in the Quran were in fact monotheists or henotheists.
After Muhammad's declaration of prophethood, the ''mushrikun'' harassed members of the nascent Muslim community and were led by Amr ibn Hisham. Following the increase of tensions between the Mushrikites and the Muslims, Muhammad and his companions (''sahaba'') migrated to the neighboring city of Medina, where the Islamic prophet was offered sovereignty over the city. An Islamic state was formed in Medina, which received vehement opposition from the Mushrikites, and subsequently, both parties fought at the Battle of Badr in 624, resulting in a defeat. == Etymology == The Arabic term ''mushrikun'' (plural of ''mushrik'') is an agent noun derived from the verb ''ashraka'' 'to make (someone) a partner; to associate', the cognate noun of which is ''shirk.''{{Sfn|Sinai|2018}} The term may be translated as "associators", as in "those who associate [with Allah]" and "make [equal] with Allah another deity". It is often translated as "polytheists" in modern English translations of the Quran (but see the ''Religious identity and practices'' section below).{{Sfn|Grasso|2021|pp=301,309}} The terms ''shirk'' and ''mushrikun'' imply condemnation more than the word "polytheism".{{Sfn|Sinai|2018}}
== Religious identity and practices == {{See also|Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia}} The ''mushrikun'' are the main targets of criticism in the parts of the Quran dated to the Meccan period, i.e. the time before Muhammad and his followers moved to Medina. It is unlikely that the people labeled as ''mushrikun'' in the Quran would have identified themselves as such, considering the hostile nature of the term. Other polemical terms are used more or less interchangeably with ''mushrikun'' in the Quran: ''alladhina kafaru'' 'the repudiators' (traditionally translated as 'the unbelievers') and ''al-mukadhdhibun'' 'the deniers'. The Quran calls for battle against the ''mushrikun'' "until all religion is God's"<ref>{{Cite Quran|8|39|style=nosup}}</ref> and for them to be killed wherever they are found.<ref>{{Cite Quran|9|5|style=nosup}}</ref>{{Sfn|Sinai|2018}}
The ''mushrikun'' are clearly identified in the Quran as worshipping multiple gods (''aliha'').{{Sfn|Sinai|2018}} One passage<ref>{{Cite Quran|53|19|style=nosup|end=22}}</ref> gives the names of three deities: Allat, al-'Uzza, and Manat; these were goddesses worshipped in ancient Arabia.{{Sfn|Lindstedt|2023|pp=187–188}} Early Muslim historians understood the Hejaz at the advent of Islam as generally polytheist. This view was accepted in later Muslim and Western scholarship. However, a number of scholars have disputed the view that the ''mushrikun'' criticized in the Quran were Arab polytheists. G. R. Hawting argues that the ''mushrikun'' of the Quran were Jews or Christians, not necessarily in Arabia; thus, the debate between the ''mushrikun'' and the early Muslims was a debate between monotheists. Similarly, Patricia Crone states, "it is hard to avoid the impression that both Jews and Judaizing pagans are involved [with the ''mushrikūn'']." Valentina A. Grasso agrees that the ''mushrikun'' were not merely polytheists, but disputes the view that they were Jews or Christians. Grasso argues that the ''mushrikun'' were henotheists or "imperfect monotheists who believed in the intercession of supernatural beings but venerated the same god of the Muslims." These beings were former deities who had been demoted to the status of "intercessors" subordinate to the supreme God (Allah).{{Sfn|Grasso|2021|pp=302, 314, 317, 319}} Nicolai Sinai writes, "if the Qurʾānic associators were polytheists, they were polytheists of a rather specific kind, in so far as they not only recognised that Allāh was the creator of the world but also credited him with ultimate dominion over the cosmos".{{Sfn|Sinai|2018}}
According to Christian J. Robin, polytheism was in fact marginalized in Arabia by the time Muhammad began preaching, but Mecca was one of its few remaining centers. The Quraysh of Mecca had their own pantheon, headed by Hubal. Other tribes whom the Quraysh had organized into cultic and mercantile associations had a different pantheon which was "superimposed on the Qurayshite one". This pantheon included Allah and the goddesses Allat, al-'Uzza, and Manat (although it has also been argued that the names ''Allah'' and ''Hubal'' referred to the same deity).{{Sfn|Robin|2012|pp=303–304}} In the so-called Satanic Verses (within Quran 53:19–21), which according to Islamic tradition were "repealed" because they were dictated by Satan,{{Sfn|Robin|2012|p=310|pp=}} it is said of the goddesses Allat, al-'Uzza, and Manat: "Indeed they are the high cranes, and indeed their intercession is to be desired".{{Sfn|Grasso|2021|pp=302–303}} According to some historians, these verses attest to an initial compromise proposed by Muhammad whereby the three goddesses would be accepted as "divine messengers who could intercede between God and men". Following the enthusiastic reception of this proposal by the Meccans, Muhammad quickly went back on the compromise, "realizing that his suggestion ruined the force and coherence of his religious reform."{{Sfn|Robin|2012|p=310}}
It is difficult to reconstruct the cultic practices of the ''mushrikun'' from the information given in the Quran. According to Sinai, it is clear that they conducted animal sacrifices, but "it is by no means evident that the associators accorded a prominent role to the veneration of images or idols", which is how they are depicted in the Quran and in the later Islamic tradition, e.g. in the ''Book of Idols'' of Hisham ibn al-Kalbi.{{Sfn|Sinai|2018}}
== See also == {{Portal|Islam}}
=== General links === * Glossary of Islam * Outline of Islam * Index of Islam-related articles
=== Terms === * ''Shirk'' * ''Kafir'' * ''Dhimmi'' * ''Ridda'' * ''Ahl al-Fatrah'' * ''Ahl al-Kitāb''
== References == <references />
== Bibliography ==
* {{The History of al-Tabari|volume=10|url={{Google Books||plainurl=y}}}} * {{cite book |last=Grasso |first=Valentina A. |chapter=The Gods of the Qur’ān: The Rise of Ḥijāzī Henotheism during Late Antiquity |date=25 October 2021|title=The Study of Islamic Origins |pages=297–324 |editor-last=Bjerregaard Mortensen |editor-first=Mette |publisher=De Gruyter |doi=10.1515/9783110675498-013 |isbn=978-3-11-067549-8 |editor2-last=Dye |editor2-first=Guillaume |editor3-last=Oliver |editor3-first=Isaac W. |editor4-last=Tesei |editor4-first=Tommaso}} * {{Cite book |last=Lindstedt |first=Ilkka |title=Muhammad and His Followers in Context: The Religious Map of Late Antique Arabia |date=2023 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-68713-4 |location=Leiden}} * {{Cite book |last=Robin |first=Christian J. |author-link=Christian J. Robin |title=The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-533693-1 |editor-last=Johnson |editor-first=Scott Fitzgerald |series=Oxford handbooks |location=Oxford |pages=247–332 |chapter=Arabia and Ethiopia}} * {{Cite web |last=Sinai |first=Nicolai |date=2018 |editor-last=Fleet |editor-first=K. |editor2-last=Krämer |editor2-first=G. |editor3-last=Matringe |editor3-first=D. |editor4-last=Nawas |editor4-first=J. |editor5-last=Stewart |editor5-first=D. J. |title=Polytheism |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_46230 |url-access=subscription |access-date=23 April 2026 |website=Encyclopaedia of Islam Three Online |publisher=Brill}} * {{EI2|article=Abū Sufyān|last=Watt|first=W. Montgomery|authorlink=W. Montgomery Watt|volume=1|page=151}} * {{cite book |last1=Watt |first1=Montgomery William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zLN2hNidLw4C |title=Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman |date=1961 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198810780 |location=London |author-link=W. Montgomery Watt}}
Category:Islamic terminology