Most of the Pre-Islamic Arabs complied with the call of Prophet Isma’il Alaihissalaam and professed the Islam of his father Nabiyana Ibraheem Alaihissalaam, They had worshipped Allah, Professed Allah’s Oneness and followed the religion of Truth for a long time until they forgot a part of the message of what they had been reminded of.
However, they still maintained such fundamental beliefs such as true monotheism as well as various aspects of Prophet Ibraheem Alaihissalaam’s Islam.
Until the time when a chief of the Tribe of Khuza’a named ‘Amr bin
Luhay, who was renowned for righteousness,charity, reverence and care for religion, and was granted unreserved love and obedience by his tribesmen.
One Day he came back from a trip to Syria where he saw people worship Idols. This is a phenomenon he approved of and believed it to be righteous since Syria was a locus of Messengers and Scriptures.
And then he brought with him back an Idol named ‘Hubal‘ which he placed in the middle of Al-Ka’aba Shariff and summoned people to worship it.
Readily enough, Paganism spread all over the city of Makkah and then whole of Hijaz, People of Makkah being Custodians of not not only the Sacred House but the whole Haram as Shareef as well, As a result of this, many idols, bearing different names were introduced into the area
[Mukhatasar Seerat-ar-Rasool Part-12]
An Idol called ‘Manat‘ for example was worshipped in a place known as Al-Mushallal near Qadid on the shores of Red Sea, Another named ‘Al-Lat’ in Ta’if, a third, ‘Al-‘Uzza in the valley of Nakhlah, and so on and so forth, Polytheism prevailed and the number of Idols increased
everywhere in Hijaz.
It is also narrated that ‘Amr bin Luhay, with the help of an evil
Devil-Jinn companion who informed him that the idols of the Ignorant People of Nooh Alaihissalaam- Wadd, Suwa, Yaguth, Ya’uk and Nasr- were buried in Jeddah, he dug them out and took them to Ka’aba, Upon Pilgrimage time the idols were distributed among the tribes to take back home.
Every Tribe, and house, had their own idol, and the Sacred House Kaaba was overcrowded with them. On the Prophet Sallallaahu Alaihi Wasallam’s conquest of Makkah, 360 Idols were found inside Al-Ka’aba. He [Sallallaahu Alaihi Wasallam] broked them down and purified the Holy House of Allah
Polytheism and worship of Idols became the most prominent feature of Pre-Islamic Arabs despite alleged profession of following Prophet Ibraheem Alaihissalaam’s Islam.
Traditions and ceremonies of the worship of their idols had been mostly created by ‘Amr Bin Luhay and were deemed as ‘Good Innovations’ rather than deviations from the Prophet Ibraheem Alaihissalaam’s Islam.
SubhanAllah!, Let us read now what Happened to Amr bin Luhay as told by Nabi-e- Kareem Sallallaahu Alaihi Wasallam Himself:
”I saw Amr Bin Luhay dragging his intestines in Jahannam (Hell), He
was the first to introduce the religion of Al-Saa’ibah (Idol
Worship)”_ [Al-Bukhari, Hadith Number 4623]
Lesson from this Post: Strengthen your Aqeedah and know about your Fundamentals which you have been following, Since Islam only Supports Truth it becomes very important to keep checking our Aqeedah and fundamentals whether it abides by Truth or not. If not then its our own
responsibility to investigate and correct ourselves and be on What Islam Agrees.
Islam Reigns 