Muhammad was born into the most powerful tribe in Mecca, the Quraish, around 570 A.D. His family belonged to a poor clan that was active in Mecca politics. The predominant religion in Arabia before Islam was some kind of polytheism. According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad himself was a Hanif, which is a native pre-Islamic Arab who professed a rigid monotheism. However, scholars dispute the historicity of Hanifs. It is not clear what Muhammads exact beliefs were before he began receiving revelations from Allah at the age of 40.