The translation of monotheistic values into the principles of a reformed Arabian society, and the formation of a new community with its own congregational life and ritual and legal norms, made Islam a new religious community alongside the old. This was the umma, the brotherhood that integrated individuals, clans, cities, and even ethnic groups into a larger community in which religious loyalties encompassed all other loyalties without abolishing them, and in which a new common law and political authority regulated the affairs of the populace as a whole. In a fragmented society he integrated otherwise anarchic small clans into a larger confederacy, and built a "church"-like religious community and an incipient imperial organization. Thus the Quranic revelation and Muhammad's leadership brought to a hitherto marginal region the same type of religious beliefs and sociopolitical organization as those characteristic of the Middle East as a whole. While Arabia maintained a unique identity it was becoming a society of a Middle Eastern type--committed on the basis of a familial or lineage structure to a universal confessional religion and to political unity.

Radical as this was, it was still an adaptation of traditional Arabian concepts. The umma redefined the meaning of the tribe as a group that defended its brothers to include religious as well as blood brothers. It also came under the leadership of a shaykh, a person who had the prestige to arbitrate because he represented the divine will rather than custom, and was governed by a new sunna--the authoritative example of the Prophet--rather than tribal tradition. The law of blood revenge was accepted, but now the umma as a whole was substituted for the clan. Within the umma Muhammad counseled restraint, forgiveness, and the mediation and control of the shaykh. In family life, the patriarchal clan was reaffirmed as the ideal Muslim family, but redefined to include a new concern for women and children, the stability of marriages, individuality, and decency.

In the realm of individual morality, a similar reshaping of values took place. The traditional Arab virtues were vested with new Islamic meanings. Bedouin courage in battle, reckless bravery in defense of one's tribe, became persistent dedication to the new faith of Islam and the capacity for disciplined sacrifice in the name of the new community. Patience in the face of adversity (sabr) became unshakable faith in God in the face of trials and temptations. Generosity was shorn of its impulsive quality, of the penchant for showing off and display, and was transmuted into the virtue of almsgiving and care for the weak and the poor as part of a pious and restrained, but regular, commitment. The Quranic teachings and Muhammad's leadership extracted the virtues of the bedouin culture from the context of jahl (passion, ignorance, and thoughtlessness), to reestablish them on the basis of hilm (self-control) and 'aql (rational judgment), based on islam (submission to Allah).

Thus, the new religion reaffirmed the Arabian moral tradition. But in a society that had already failed to realize its own ideals, this could only be accomplished through new concepts of brotherhood and authority. Islam gave to traditional virtues and social institutions a new meaning that could command allegiance and elicit participation. By giving old concepts new meaning, it made possible a new religious sensibility and the integration of disparate peoples into a new community. When one looks at Arabian society before and after Muhammad, the outward movement was small, but the inner journey was immeasurable.

What made Muhammad so rare a figure in history, what made him a prophet, was his ability to convey his vision to people around him so that concepts long known to everyone took on the power to transform other people's lives as they had transformed his. This was accomplished by direct preaching about God, and also by changing family life and institutions, and by introducing new ritual practices, social mores, and political loyalties. Muhammad was a prophet who caused a religious vision to operate in the body of a whole society.

In the Quran and Muhammad's teachings and example, Muslims have ever after found a revelation of the spiritual reality of God's transcendence and man's humble place in the universe. They find a revelation of the laws by which people should live in a community of believers, dedicated to the care of the weak and the poor, to education, and to social reform. Equally they are dedicated to a political community organized to administer justice, to defend itself, and to wage war in the name of the true faith. Islam proved particularly effective in unifying tribal societies and in motivating militant struggle in the interests of the umma as a whole. To this day, to be a Muslim implies a combination of personal religious belief and membership in the community of fellow believers.