Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia Quotes

“He sent Sa’d b. Zayd al-Ashhali to Manāt in al-Mushallal and he pulled it down.”

“O Dhū Kaffayn we are not your worshipers. Our birth is more ancient than yours. Indeed I stuffed your heart with fire.”

“The religion of Mecca in Muḥammad’s time was far from simple idolatry. It resembled much more a form of the Christian faith, in which saints and angels have come to stand between the worshippers and God.”

“When the Messenger of God conquered Hunayn, he desired to march to al-Ta if. He sent al-Tufayl b. “Amr to Dhū l-Kaffayn the idol of Amr b. Humama to destroy it. He commanded him to ask his people to help him and join him in al-Ta’if.”

“While al-Mughirah was striking the idol with the axe, Abū Sufyan was saying, “Alas for you, alas!” When al-Mughirah had demolished it, he took its treasure and ornamentations and sent [it] to Abū Sufyän. Its ornamentation was made up of various items, while its treasure consisted of gold and onyx.”

“Come not to Allat, for God hath doomed her to destruction; How can you stand by one which doth not triumph? Verily that which, when set on fire, resisted not the flames, Nor saved her stones, is inglorious and worthless. Hence when the Apostle in your place shall arrive. And then leave, not one of her votaries shall be left.”

“Thus D. B. Macdonald, in his article s.v. ‘Allāh’ in the first edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, wrote: ‘The religion of Mecca in Muh·ammad’s time was far from simple idolatry. It resembled much more a form of the Christian faith, in which saints and angels have come to stand between the worshippers and God.’”

“I was told by Malik ibn-Harithah al-Ajdari that he himself had seen Wadd, and that his father was wont to send him to it with some milk saying, “Offer it unto thy god to drink.” Malik added, “I used to drink the milk myself.’ He also said, “I also saw it after Khalid ibn-al-Walid had destroyed it and smashed it into pieces.””

“The Sabaeans practised “an ancient natural religion” in which “the sun, the moon and the planets” figured prominently. They “believed in the migration of the soul and in great world periods constantly renewed in an everlasting revolutions”... They built “massive temples” and “handsome gold and silver statues of their chief gods.””

““Every household had an idol in their house which they used to worship. When a man was about to set out on a journey he would rub himself against it as he was about to ride off: indeed that was the last thing he used to do before his journey; and when he returned from his journey the first thing he did was to rub himself against it before he went in to his family…”

“The new creed [Islam] had the greatest interest in obliterating all recollection of the pagan period, not only in stone monuments which still survived the natural weathering--these were destroyed to provide material for new buildings, or burned for lime or sometimes out of sheer vandalism--but also in literature, and even in consigning the ancient language to oblivion.”

“The Quraysh as well as the rest of the Arabs continued to venerate Manah until the Apostle of God set out from Medina in the eighth year of the Hijrah[16], the year in which God accorded him the victory[17]. When he was at a distance of four or five nights from Medina, he dispatched ‘Ali to destroy her. ‘Ali demolished her, took away all her [treasures], and carried them back to the Prophet.”

“As a baby, Muhammad was suckled by a desert woman, Halîma. One day she came to Mecca to see the ‘Ukãz fair, carrying Muhammad with her. An astrologer saw the baby and shouted, “Come here, O people of Hudayl, come here, O Arabs.” People gathered round him, Halîma among them. He pointed towards the baby and said, “He will slaughter people of your religion and smash your idols.” Halîma took fright and ran away with the baby.”

“The Messenger of God sent “Ali with a hundred and fifty men on a hundred camels and fifty horses. Only the Ansār, and that included the Aws and the Khazraj, participated in the raid. They went along side the horses and took turns on the camels until they attacked the tribes of the Bedouin. He inquired about the region of the families of Halam, then he alighted upon them. Then they raided them with the dawn. They took prisoners until their hands were full, and cattle and sheep. They attacked al-Fuls, the idol of the Ṭayyi and destroyed it.”

““Now Ri’ãm,” reports Ibn Ishãq, “was one of the temples which they venerated and where they offered sacrifices and received oracles when they were polytheists. The two rabbis told Tubba‘ that it was merely a shayTãn which deceived them in this way and they asked to be allowed to deal with it. When the king agreed they commanded a black dog to come out of it and killed it-at least this is what the Yamanites say. Then they destroyed the temple and I am told that its ruins to this day show traces of the blood that was poured over it.””

“the Messenger of God dispatched Abu Sufyan b. Harb and al Mughirah b. Shu’bah to demolish al-Taghiyyah. The two traveled with the deputation until they approached al-Ta’if, at which point al-Mughirah asked Abü Sufyån to precede him. Abu Sufyan refused, saying, “Go to your kinsfolk yourself,” and stayed at his estate in Dhû al-Harm. When al-Mughirah b. Shu’bah entered [al-Ta’if], he mounted the idol and struck it with a pick axe while his folk, the Banu Mu’attib, stood by him, fearing that he might be shot at or struck as Urwah had been. The women of Thaqif came out with their heads uncovered and said, lamenting the loss of the] idol…”

““At this time,” reports Ibn Ishãq, “the people of Najrãn followed the religion of the Arabs worshipping a great palm-tree. Every year they had a festival when they hung on the tree any fine garment they could find and women’s jewels. Then they sallied out and devoted the day to it.” Faymiyûn reported to the nobles that the palm-tree “could neither help nor hurt” and that “if he were to curse the tree in the name of God, He would destroy it, for He was God Alone without companion.” The nobles agreed. Faymiyûn “invoked God against the tree and God sent a wind against it which tore it from its roots and cast it on the ground.” The miracle helped the people of Najran to adopt the “law of Îsã b. Maryam” in which Faymiyûn “instructed them.””

“The Arabs during the pre-Islamic period used to practice certain things that were included in the Islamic Sharia. They, for example, did not marry both a mother and her daughter. They considered marrying two sisters simultaneously to be a most heinous crime. They also censured anyone who married his stepmother, and called him dhaizan. They made the major hajj and the minor umra pilgrimage to the Ka'ba, performed the circumlocution around the Ka'ba tawaf, ran seven times between Mounts Safa and Marwa sa'y, threw rocks and washed themselves after sexual intercourse. They also gargled, sniffed water up into their noses, clipped their fingernails, removed all pubic hair and performed ritual circumcision. Likewise, they cut off the right hand of a thief and stoned Adulterers.”

“He sent Sa’d b. Zayd al-Ashhali Manāt in al-Mushallal and he pulled it down. And he sent “Amr b. al-As to the idol of Hudhayl-Suwa-and he pulled it down. Amr used to say: I reached the idol and also the gatekeeper. He said. What do you want? I said, “To bring down Suwā.” He said. “What do you intend with it?” I said. “The Messenger of God commanded me.” He said, “You will not be able to bring it down.” I said. “Why?” He replied, “It will prevent you.” Amr said, “Until now you are in the wrong! Woe unto you. Can it hear or see?” Amr said: I drew close to it and broke it. I commanded my companions and they pulled down the house of its treasury. They did not find anything in it.” Then he said to the gatekeeper, “What do you think?” He replied, “I submitted to God.””

““First of all, as regards the religion of the South Arabians, as we find it in their inscriptions, it is a strongly marked star-worship, in which the cult of the moon-god, conceived as masculine, takes complete precedence of that of the sun, which is conceived as feminine. ...But we may point out in conclusion that in all probability the Greeks borrowed from Arabian incense merchants their Apollo and his mother Leto as also Dionysos and Hermes, in the same way as they took their additional letters Phi, Chi and Psi from the South Arabian alphabet… This would seem to prove definitively that South Arabian civilization with its gods, incense altars, inscriptions, forts and castles must have been in a flourishing condition as early as the beginning of the first millennium BC.”