Muhammad also wished to reorganize Arab society.

Muhammad also wished to reorganize Arab society. The new doctrine that he put forward for this purpose, made Faith instead of Blood, the "linchpin" of the community. But the Arabs were bred in the code of pagan custom and convention; they believed in the basic tribal and kinship structures. For them "Blood" was the only workable basis of social organization. In their perception, if Faith were allowed to supplant Blood in this equation, it would wreck the whole structure of the Arab society.

But Muhammad had little interest in "Arab society." His aim was to create and to consolidate an "Islamic society," which is held together by Faith and not by Blood. He, therefore, assiduously cultivated and promoted the redeeming, transcending power of Faith. Philip K. Hitti Substituting the religious for the centuries-old blood bond as the basis for social cohesion was, indeed, a daring and original accomplishment of the Prophet of Arabia.

(Islam, A Way of Life) For the Arabs, all these were new and unfamiliar ideas; in fact, they were revolutionary. By preaching such revolutionary ideas, Muhammad had made the old establishment furious. Most furious and most assertive in the old establishment was the Umayyad clan of the Quraysh. Its members were the leading usurers and capitalists of Makka, and they were the high priests of the pagan pantheon.

In Muhammad and the message of Islam, they saw a threat to their social system which was based upon privilege, elitism and force. His ideas, therefore, were most abhorrent to them, and they were resolved not to let him change the status quo. Philip K. Hitti "...The Quraysh - particularly its Umayyad clan - custodians of the Kaabah and the Zamzam, controllers of the caravan trade, and oligarchic masters of the city, had special reasons for resistance (to Muhammad).

The new preaching might jeopardize pilgrimage to the Kaabah, next to trade their main source of income. Moreover, the once-poor orphan was introducing such dangerous economic doctrines as the rightful claim of beggars and the destitute to a share in the wealth of the rich. Additionally he (Muhammad) advocated a dangerous doctrine, one that would substitute faith for blood as the social bond of community life.