The first nation to receive the Quran
Unlike other Messengers who were only tasked to give the message to his own nation, the final Messenger s.a.w was to spread the message to all nations of the world. However, it started with one nation, i.e. the Arabs. They were unlettered idol worshiping pagan nation. They were called "Jahiliyyah" as they were in a period of ignorance.
The Prophet s.a.w first recite the Quran to his own Arab tribe, the Quraish.
The Quraish
1. The Quraish was from the descendant of Ismaeel (a.s), the son of Ibrahim (a.s).
2. Remnants of traditions and rituals of Ibrahim (a.s) became Arab customs for generations:
a. The Arabs knew Allah as God of Ibrahim. However they associated other gods besides Him
b. They respected the Ka’bah that was built by Ibrahim and Ismaeel as holy
c. They tawaf around the Ka’bah
d. They did Umrah, Hajj and sacrifizing of cattle during Hajj period.
e. They observe the 4 Sacred Months i.e. Zulqaedah, Zulhijjah, Muharram, Rajab.
f. The 12 months for the Arabs were: 1. Muharram, 2. Safar, 3. Rabi-ul-Awwal, 4. Rabi-us thaani, 5. Jamadul-Awwal, 6. Jamadu-thaani, 7. Rajab, 8. Sha’ban, 9. Ramadhan, 10. Shawal, 11. Zul-Qa-idah, 12. Zul-Hijah
3. They were unlettered. Very little can read or write as there were no Public Schools. They relied on memory for anything since they cannot write and read. Hence their memory was excellent.
4. They took pride in their eloquent language since they have nothing else to compete against other nations of that time. They have none of the civilization of the kingdom of the Romans and Persians who had great structures of buildings and organized military.
5. Since they were unlettered, they did not read any books from other foreign nation. Hence they were not influenced to new ideas, cultures or traditions from outside.
6. The one thing that they were influenced by foreign nation was idol worshiping. This was the biggest thing that corrupted the religion of Ibrahim (a.s).
How idol worshiping began
A tribe of Khuza'ah defeated the tribe of Jurhum who were occupying Makkah. Amr bin Luhay, who was the leader of the tribe of Khuza'ah, gained authority over the Ka'bah. He went to Damascus and was impressed by the idols that the people were worshiping. Since Damascus was part of a strong Roman empire, he thought that the idols must be the ones that helped the Romans. He got one idol named "Hubal" and brought it back to Makkah. He forced the people to worship this idol. Since then, more and more idols were introduced to the Arabs. All the main idols were kept inside the Ka'bah under the care of the Quraish.
[Sahih Bukhari 723] Abu Huraira said, “The Prophet said, ‘I saw Amr bin ‘Amir bin Luhai Al-Khuzai dragging his intestines in the (Hell) Fire, for he was the first man who started the custom of releasing animals (for the sake of false gods).'”
Why other Arab tribes respected the Quraish:
* Not all Arabs were direct descendants of Ibrahim (a.s) [i.e via Ismael (a.s)] like the Quraish.
* The Ka’bah was in the same place that the Quraish lived and they were the custodian.
* They hosted the Hajj as it was performed at their location and they owned the ZamZam well.
* The idols (”gods”) from different Arab Tribes were kept inside the Ka’bah.
* Other Arab tribes do not dare to harm a Quraishy as their idols were kept in the guardianship of the Quraish.
* Other tribes respected the level of Arabic and Poetry of the Quraish. Poets became celebrity, respected and admired.
* The legendary and respected Abdul Muttalib was a Quraish
Abdul Muttalib
--> He rediscovered and excavated the Zam2 well that was buried by the the tribe of Jurhum when they were driven out by the tribe of Khuza'ah. Makkah was without the Zam Zam well for many years until Abdul Muttalib found it.
--> Qusayy bin Kilab (the ancestor of Abdul Muttalib) gathered all Quraish tribes to gained authority of Makkah over the Jurhum tribe. The leadership was passed down until the time of Abdul Muttalib who became the leader of the Quraish.
--> Abdul Muttalib was also famous for another big incident. The army of elephants led by General Abrahah came to destroy the Ka’bah. Abdul Muttalib was in charge of the Ka'bah. He demanded Abrahah to give back his camels that were stolen by Abrahah's army. Abrahah asked him why he did not asked about the Ka’bah that was going to be destroyed? He replied confidently that the Ka’abah has its Owner while he was the owner of his camels. He got his camels back and directed his people to temporarily evacuate Makkah. They watched from the hills how Abrahah's army of elephants were destroyed by the Owner of the Ka'bah (refer to "Surah Al-Fiil").
Reasons on why this nation was chosen with the attributes mentioned above.
1. The final Messenger was selected from the progeny of Ibrahim a.s who’s descendants were of many Messengers. The Arabs and Jewish prophetic lineage merged at Ibrahim a.s. Family tree of Prophets.
2. The remnants of the tradition of Ibrahim (a.s) though corrupted was similar to the upcoming Islamic traditions that will correct the errors.
3. The Ka’bah will be the central point of worship for the future Muslims.
4. The Hajj will be the annual pilgrimage for the Muslims too but with an Islamic ritual cleared from Shirk and corruption.
5. Since all other Arab tribes respected the Quraish, it will easier for other tribes to embrace Islam if the Quraish embraced it.
6. When the thing that they were most proud, i.e Arabic poetry was overwhelmed by the eloquence of the Quran, this should make them surrender to the Quran bringing them back to the path of the religion of Ibrahim (a.s).
7. Since they have excellent memory, this is an asset in the preservation of the Quran. This set off a tradition by millions of believers in memorizing the entire Quran cover to cover. If all the printed Qurans are burned and all soft copies are deleted, the modern Muslims can reproduce another Quran by the next day from the memory of millions.
Conclusion: With all the reasons mentioned above, the Quraish would be the best choice to receive the final divine message. However, in the beginning, they were the first to oppose the Messenger and the Message because of Tribal arrogance.