Religion of the ancient Arabs February 4, 2008

Religion of the ancient Arabs

To understand the preaching angle of the Holy Qur’an and the Messenger of Allah we should be familiar with the environment and circumstances in which the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S. A. W.) had to preach.

According to early Arabian tradition, when Allah expelled Adam and Eve from paradise, after their sin of disobedience, Adam landed on a mountain in Sri Lanka and Eve fell on mount Arafat. After a hundred years of wandering they met at Mecca, where Adam, as per the instruction and design given by Allah, constructed a temple called the Ka’ba, and placed in its foundation the famous Hajar Al-Asvad, or “The Holy Black Stone”, which had also fallen from paradise when the primal couple fell. This stone had once been whiter than milk, but had since turned black on account of the sins of the pilgrims, who touched and kissed it. (98, p. 7) According to one tradition, this holy stone had previously been a guardian-angel of Adam. Because this angel had not been cautious enough, Adam was induced by Iblis (Satan) to disobey Allah. In this way Adam fell from paradise and this guardian-angel turned into stone and fell after him. (131, p. 30) Thus, according to tradition, the Ka’ba was originally founded by Adam, and after his death rebuilt by his son Seth.

Tradition further says, that Mecca stands on the spot exactly beneath Allah’s throne in heaven and that the Ka’ba is an exact replica of the tabernacle in heaven in which angels offer prayers to Allah. The Ka’ba is a cubic shaped building with a height of 45 feet. Ka’ba actually means “cube”.

According to Arab historians, after the Flood, Sim, a descendent of Noah, established his home in the Arabian peninsula and he became the origin of several tribes. One grandson of Sim was Katan, and his grandson, Yarab, formed the Yemen state. The word Arab originated from the name of this descendent of Sim. (66, p. 6)

At the time of the Flood, the Ka’ba Seth rebuilt was destroyed. (51, p. 5) It was again rebuilt by Abraham and his son Ishmael. For rebuilding the Ka’ba, the Archangel Gabriel (Hazrat Jibraeel; ‘Aliaihis-salam, Peace be on him) brought Abraham a flat stone (Makam Abraham) on which Abraham stood and which served him as a moveable scaffold while building the Ka’ba. That stone rose and fell under Abraham’s feet as he required. Today this stone still bears his foot-prints. Now it is enclosed in an iron case and the pilgrims offer prayers before it. (98, p. 133)

When the temple was almost complete Abraham decided to place a noticeable stone in one corner so that pilgrims could start their ritual circumambulation around the Ka’ba from that point. At that time, the Archangel Gabriel showed Abraham the Holy Black Stone that had been missing when the Ka’ba was last destroyed. This Holy Back Stone was placed in the south-eastern corner of the Ka’ba. Later on, the Ka’ba was again rebuilt by the clan of the Amalikah, descendants of Noah. Then again by Banu Jurhum, who also descended from Noah through Katan. Several hundred years before the revelation of the Holy Qur’an, the Ka’ba was rebuilt again by Kusay ibn Qilab, who had led the Quraysh tribe to Mecca. At that time, according to the historian Azraqi, the Ka’ba was 4.5 meters (13.5 feet) high without a roof, and there were venerated stones in all four corners.

Today the Black Stone and the Ka’ba represent a sanctuary consecrated to God since time immemorial, and it is towards the Ka’ba that Muslims orient themselves in prayer. Thus the Ka’ba is a spiritual center, a support for the concentration of consciousness upon the Divine Presence. If one makes the ritual prayer inside the Ka’ba, it can be made in any direction. The Black Stone is in the south-east corner, set 1.5 meters from the ground. It is black with reddish tones and yellow particles, of ovoid shape, about 11 inches (28cm) wide and 15 inches (38cm) high, and set in a silver casing. In the opposite corner, set somewhat lower, is another stone of a reddish color, Hajar As-Sa’Adah (The Stone of Felicity). It is the center of the Ka’ba which marks the direction of the qiblah, the focal point of ritual prayer.

Thus, the Ka’ba had been built by Adam for the worship of the one God. It was called the “House of Allah”. It is also called Al-Bayt Al-Haram, “The Holy House”, and Al-Bayt Al-’Atiq, “The Ancient House”.

In this way, the ancient Arabs accepted the one Almighty God and worshipped him. But they also believed that some human beings are outstanding in their relationship with Allah and their intercession on behalf of others is accepted by Allah. To reach Him is difficult for ordinary human beings, so people must have others to intercede for them to attract Allah’s notice and help. The people of Mecca, therefore, had made images of holy and righteous persons and worshipped them. They also made offerings to these images in order to please Allah through them. (70, p. 1)

The ancient Arabs believed that Allah had entrusted the discharge of the various functions of the universe to different gods and goddesses. People would therefore turn to these gods and goddesses to invoke their blessings in all sorts of undertakings. (96, p. 22) They prayed to them to intercede before Allah and to pass their desires on to Allah. Arabs of the Syrian desert considered Al-Manat, “Goddess of fortune” as the consort of Allah and mother of gods. Some deities such as Al-Lat, “Goddess of sky” and Al-Uzza, “Goddess of Venus” were considered the daughters of Allah. (78, p. 27) The people of Yemen worshipped the sun. Other tribes worshipped the moon, while others worshipped the stars. Most of them, however, worshipped idols. Almost every tribe had its own idol. At Dumat-ul-Jandal, in the north of Hijaz, was the temple of Wadd. The idol was the image of a man, cut out of stone and covered with two mantles. It carried a sword and a bow on its shoulders, a quiver full of arrows upon his back and a javelin with a small flag attached near the spear-head in his hand.

The goddess Al-Manat had her temple at Qudaid on the sea coast, half-way between Mecca and Medina. The idol of Al-Manat carried two swords. The goddess Al-Lat was at Taif and was worshipped by the tribe of Bani Saqif who lived in that city. The idol was in the form of a square cut rock. Just as famous was goddess Al-Uzza, whose temple was situated in the valley of Nakhla, not far from Mecca. (87, p. 29)

In Hijaz and Hajd, Arabs worship the stones named betil, “House of Allah”. They circumambulate and touch them so that the power contained in the stone passes to them. There were stationary betils and traveling betils. Traveling tribesmen carried betil on the backs of camels and priestesses played on drums and sang hymns. In addition to all these stones and deities, the Arab tribes also worshipped their forefathers. (41, p. 20)

Ancient Arabs believed that by preparing the sculptures of gods and goddesses and by performing proper rituals they could cause the actual gods and goddesses to manifest within the sculptures. They paid divine honors not merely to sculptured idols, but also venerated all types of beings and natural objects. Angels, jinns, or evil spirits, and stars were all their deities. They believed that the angels were daughters of Allah and the jinns were His partners in divinity. (21, p. 20) They would even worship pieces of stones, trees, and sand-heaps. They would fall prostrate before any fine piece of stone; they would worship sandhills after having milked their camel thereon. Going out on a journey they would carry four stones along with them, three to make a hearth for cooking while the fourth to serve as an object of worship. Sometimes no separate stone for worship would be carried. So after cooking was done any one of the three stones used as a hearth would be pulled out and worshipped. (97, p. 14)

Some Arab tribes worshipped fire, others, the male and female genitals, while sometimes some famous persons produced his own sculptures and forced others to worship them. (90, p. 17) Some tribal men made idols from dates which they and their children sometimes devoured to satisfy their hunger. (124, p. These ancient Arabs also had some terrible customs, like sacrificing their new born baby-girl to idols or burying them alive.

Gradually the Ka’ba lost its influence and Mecca lost its prominence. To counter this, the city authorities decided to put a very influential deity named Hubal in the Ka’ba. (162, p. 21) It was brought from Moab, in Palestine. Seven arrows were placed in its hands. These were used for divination and omens. The Ka’ba was a famous place of pilgrimage and to make it more attractive for the Arab tribes, Meccans slowly started to collect different idols. Soon three hundred and sixty idols were installed within the Ka’ba and it’s courtyard. The deities of Al-Lat, Al-Manat and Al-Uzza were nicely dressed and decorated. Wadd, Sava, Yagus, Yauk and Nasr also were very honorable idols. Muslim historians claim that these idols were worshippable even before the Great Flood. Wadd is a personification of the sky in a male form, Sava had a female form, Yagus had the form of a lion, Yauk that of a horse, and Nasp that of a kite. There was another idol in the form of a big wooden pigeon.

The ancient Arabs worshipped these deities by offering incense, costly presents, food, etc. They bathed the deities with scented water, honey, and the blood of sacrificial animals.

In front of the Ka’ba there were two statues, one of a man and the other of a woman - Isaf and Naila. Tradition says that one day this young couple wanted intimacy and finding no other suitable place, entered the Ka’ba and polluted it with an ugly sin. Forthwith, they were punished by Allah and turned into stone. The people later discovered their petrified bodies exposed in the courtyard of the Ka’ba as a warning to one and all. But people’s ignorance was so great that even these statues were considered deities and adored. (119, p. 11 Inside the Ka’ba there were fresco paintings including those of Abraham and the virgin Mary with the baby Jesus. (119, p. 13)

The Arabs had a custom of performing a sevenfold circumambulation of the Ka’ba completely naked. Men performed this in the day time and women at night.

No doubt, the ancient Arabs believed somewhat in Allah, the one Lord of the heaven and earth, but they didn’t worship Him. They worshipped the idols and thought the idols did everything for them, such as bringing them rain and riches, and carrying their prayers to Allah.

Thus from the history of the Ancient Arabs we can understand that in due course of time, the principles of true religion was distorted and people worshiped anything and everything beside the Supreme Lord. In this condition of the Arab peninsula the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S. A. W.) appears to reestablish the principles of true religion. As people were then worshipping various false fabricated deities, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S. A. W.) strictly forbade such worship; however, with the passage of time, it became traditionally conventional to reject all deities, regardless of their genuine or spurious nature.