Makkah in paganism

The Quraysh continued to glorify the Lord of the worlds, from whom all blessings flow, like their forefathers Ibrahim and Isma’il (u) until 'Amr b. Luhayy became the chief of Khuza'ites. He was the first to deviate from the religion of Isma'il; he set up idols in Makkah and bade the people to worship and venerate them, he instituted the custom of sa’iba which were to be held in reverence. 'Amr b. Luhayy also modified the divine laws of permissible and impermissible. It is related that once 'Amr b. Luhayy went from Makkah to Syria on some business where he found the people worshipping idols. He was so impressed by the ways of the idol worshippers that he obtained a few idols from them, brought them back to Makkah and asked the people there to pay divine honors to them.

It might have been so, or, perhaps, on his way to Syria 'Amr b. Luhayy had happened to pass through Betra which was variously known to ancient historians and geographers as Petraea and Petra. It was the key city on the caravan route between Saba and the Mediterranean, located on an arid plateau three thousand feet high, to the south of what is today called Transjordan, as mentioned by the Greek and Roman historians. The city was founded by the Nabataeans, ethnically an Arab tribe, in the early part of the sixth century B. C. These people carried their merchandise to Egypt, Syria, valley of the Euphrates and to Rome. Most likely, they took the way to the valley of the Euphrates through Hijaz. The Nabataeans were an idolatrous people who made their deities of graven stones. Some historians hold the view that al-Lat, the famous deity of the Northern Hijaz during the pre-Islamic period, had been originally imported from Petra and was assigned an honored place among the local gods and goddess.

The above view finds a confirmation in the History of Syria by Philip K. Hitti who writes about the religion of Nabataean kingdoms:

"At the head of the pantheon stood Dushara (dhu-al-Shara, Dusara), a sun deity worshipped under the form of anobelisk or an unknown four-cornered black stone.... Associated with Dushara was Al-Lat, chief goddess of Arabia. Other Nabataean goddesses cited in the inscriptions were Manat and al-'Uzza, of Koranic fame, Hubal also figures in the inscriptions."

It is noteworthy that the above description relates to a period when idolatry had, in different forms and shapes, engulfed Arabia and the countries around it. Jesus Christ (u) and his disciples had not yet appeared on the scene who later on laboured to restrain its unbridled expansion. Judaism had already proved its incompetence to the task, since, being essentially a racial religion; it allowed none save the children of Bani Israel to join his faith to the creed of monotheism preached by it.

Another writer, De Lacy O'Leary, tracing the influences responsible for introduction of idol worship in the Arabian Peninsula sums up his findings in the "Arabia before Muhammed" in these words:

"It seems fairly safe therefore to understand that the use of images was an instance of Syro-Hellenistic culture which had come down the trade-route; it was a recent introduction in Makkah in the time of the Prophet (r) and was probably unknown to the Arab community at large."

Worship the idols was thus the popular creed of the people in the valley of the Euphrates and the lands to the east of Arabia. As the Arabians were bound, since times immemorial, by the ties of commerce with these countries, it is not unlikely that their cultural influence was responsible for grafting idol worship within the Arabian Peninsula. In his history of Ancient Iraq, Georges Roux says that during the third century B.C. and long thereafter idol-worship was very popular in Mesopotamia. Its every city, old or new, gave shelter to several foreign gods besides the local deities."

There are also reports which suggest that idol worship gradually; came into vogue among the Quraysh. In olden times, as some historians relate, when anybody went out on a long journey from Makkah he took a few stones from the enclosures of the sanctuary as a mark of grace with him. In due course of time, they started venerating the monoliths they admired most. The subsequent generations, not knowing the reason for holding such monoliths in esteem, started worshipping them like other pagan people of the surrounding countries. The Quraysh, however, remained attached to some of the older traditions like paying deference to the holy sanctuary, its circumambulation, and the greater and lesser pilgrimages: Hajj and 'Umra.

The gradual evolution of different religions showing substitution of means for the ends and the slow progression from suppositions to conclusions lend support to the view put forth by the historians about the beginning of idol worship among the Quraysh. The esteem and reverence in which even certain misguided Muslim sects come to hold the portraits and sepulchers of the saints and the way they sluggishly adopt this course possesses an incriminating evidence in support of the gradual evolution of idol worship. That is why the Islamic Shari'ah completely stalls all those tracks and alleys which lead to the undue veneration of personages, places and relics for they ultimately lead to ascribing partners to God.

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