Before Islam, the Mecca pagans were mostly illiterate, living primitively and worshipping idols. They were alcoholics who ate carrion and drank the blood of the animals they slaughtered.
They did not know anything about hygiene, personal or otherwise. They were arrogant people who dressed in garments that were so long they swept the ground.
They were inhuman people who buried their daughters alive. They brought their daughters to the hole prepared before and pushed them in while looking on. When their daughters cried “Daddy, daddy” they paid no attention and buried them anyway.
When the revelation first came to Prophet Muhammad on Mount Nour, he began to shake and sweat. His forehead was covered with droplets like pearls.
He was the final messenger. He was to begin preaching the message from Mecca. Mecca was an unknown, because no prophet had appeared from there before Prophet Abraham went there. This was not a decision he made himself, rather he was required to perform his mission.
He began with his beloved wife, Khadija. Then he turned to Abu Bakr, Ali, Zad, Uthman, Abdurrahman, Talha, Sa’d and Zubair, and they became the first Muslims. The number of his ummah was almost as great as the number of fingers on two hands.
He warned the semi-primitive pagans with the wrath of Hell and invited them to a belief in the unity of Allah. His situation resembled that of a lamb that warns the wolves when she sees hunters. He had no choice but to warn them as his compassion for his ummah was infinite. He could not bear for them to be cast into Hellfire.
These were monstrous people who had once buried their daughters alive, but now they became pioneers of good manners and set wonderful examples for others as they tasted true belief and conversation with Prophet Muhammad. They exhibited excellent examples for those who hated to live like pagans. They adopted Islam easily. Islam was growing, not only in Mecca, but also in Medina and in the tribes outside of Mecca.