e. Spurred on by greed, the old ethos that mandated looking after the weaker and poorer members of the community were slowly abandoned. This shift to commerce advanced a shift in religious beliefs. The paganism and tribal system that had been in use for so long became compromised. At the beginning of the seventh century, when the Quraysh and some of the other Arabs were leaving the old nomadic life behind and were becoming aware of the social problems of the settled life, the Prophet of Islam brought a new religious message to the Arabs (Muhammad 68). Because of the shift in society, some of the younger generation were growing disenchanted and seemed to be searching for a new spiritual and political solution to the malaise and disquiet in the city (Muhammad, 68). In effect, the shift from a violent tribal system to a more peaceful sedentary lifestyle, centered on commerce in the marketplace, made the beliefs of paganism no longer sufficient to respond to the new principles on which people based their actions. People felt that their old religious ideas no longer spoke to them in their dramatically altered world (Muhammad, 8). Additionally, those who were still caught up in the violent warfare of the tribal system felt that the cycle of violence would never cease and that they could never achieve the unity necessary for progress. So, many were seeking a religion that catered to the new world and their new needs. This is what Muhammad and Islam would do.Society when Siddhartha was born was based on the caste system imposed by the Brahman class. People were to fulfill the tasks that their status required. However, new trade routes would thrust well-situated cities into power, which they then used to gain control of the weaker and more old-fashioned states of the Gangetic plain (Buddha, 22). Kings began to spread their control through the use of personal armies. As a result, many [people] were disturbed by the violence and ruth...
