thought had degenerated into sheer polytheism. Yet these writers do not analyze their faith and practices. As to the presence of other faiths in Makkah, they pass in silence over it.
Polytheism, unlike monotheism, is not a monolithic, single-dimensional entity. It has numerous varieties. It divides polytheists into several religious groups. With polytheism as the faith a society cannot achieve integration or unity. Along with its divisions and sub-divisions it disintegrates into numerous blocks. Idolatry was the main faith of Arabs and of Makkans. However, they worshipped different idols. Each tribe and family had its own idol and these idols were one another’s rivals. All members of a tribe or family were not obliged to worship a single deity. They could turn to any idol. Rather, it was their practice. This pantheon of idols had affected Makkan society and generated many reactions.30
Jews and Christians lived in the vicinity of the Quraysh and Makkans held them in awe. Jewish and Christian thought had crept into their faith, rather influenced it. Arabs believed in their superiority in matters of faith. The Arab proximity with Persia had made them thoroughly familiar with Magian thought and practices, though this influence was not wide-spread in Makkah. More importantly, atheism featured in Makkah.31
Idolatry in Makkah – A Manifestation of Polytheism
Hubal was the national idol installed at the roof of the Kaʿbah. Around it, however, there were three hundred and sixty idols. Each of these was worshipped on a day of the year. Then there were pictures on the walls of the Kaʿbah. As a result of this abundance of idols and pictures, polytheism was rooted deep in Makkah. Non-Quraysh Arabs who lived in Makkah had their own national idols. Owing to their stay in Makkah, however, they had developed attachment to the Quraysh idols, which had become part of their psyche. Idols of the adjoining area too had their influence on them. Of them, the most important ones were al-Lāt, Manāt and al-ʿUzzā, which are mentioned in the Qur’ān with reference to the socio-religious life of Makkah and Quraysh. Asāf and Nā’ilah were the idols of Banū Jurhum and al-Lāt of the Thaqīf of Ṭā’if. Al-ʿUzzā, the common idol of the Quraysh and Kinānah was installed at Nakhlah. Manāt was worshipped by the Arab tribes – al-Aws and al-Khazraj. Such devotion to a large number of idols had corrupted their religious outlook.32
All this had its impact on their religious thought pattern. They had turned into idolaters when ʿAmr ibn Luḥayy Khuzāʿī had imported idols for them. As and when they came across a beautiful stone, they would start worshipping it. By the same token, they would throw away these when they felt tired of these. Reports indicate that they had grown so non-serious on this count that during a journey they carried idols made of flour for being light to carry. They would even devour these when they grew hungry. For them these were without any substance. At most they regarded these as the means to get closer to God. Or they looked upon these as the agents to help them in need, as for example, for rainfall and other needs. ʿAmr ibn Luḥayy had brought for them from Syria the idol Hubal. Visitors to Makkah carried stones of the town for using these as idols back home. Idolatry was, no doubt, their ritual yet it had not crept into their thought pattern or national psyche.33
Their non-serious attitude towards idolatry stemmed from their allegiance to the Abrahamic faith. Notwithstanding the corruption in their faith, the spirit of their original faith sustained them. Its remnants were still there in their beliefs and practices. They were, no doubt, polytheists who invoked idols yet they entertained the notion of God being the Lord of the worlds. They did believe in One God but they were guilty of associating others with Him. The Qur’ān cites many instances of this corruption in their faith. These stand out as incontrovertible historical facts.34
The Makkans believed in some articles of the Abrahamic faith and practised the same, though their innovations had changed the faith altogether. They had the concept of prayer and offered the same once or twice a day, though in a totally changed form. According to Balādhurī, the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to visit the Kaʿbah early in the day and offered ḍuḥā (mid-morning) prayer there. The Quraysh did not dismiss this prayer.35 It appears from the Qur’ān and other bits of evidence that their prayer comprised postures such as standing, bowing and prostrating.36 They believed also in the obligation of fasting and observed it as well. The Makkans and the Quraysh fasted on the 10th of Muḥarram, for it constituted thanksgiving for the beginning of creation by God. They fasted as a token of gratitude for the advent of Prophet Adam and for divine bounties.37 Spending in God’s way, the underlying spirit of charity and zakāh was the trait of Arabs in general and of Makkans in particular. It was a synonym for generosity. The Makkans were fully familiar with the practices of pilgrimage and lesser pilgrimage and practised the same. Throughout the year they would perform ʿumrah and pilgrimage only on the appointed days. Amid other norms of the Abrahamic faith they were aware of the regard for the Kaʿbah and considered its custodianship as a privilege. Their association with pilgrimage, its rituals and the places linked with it was emotional, ideological, religious, psychological and spiritual. Both the Quraysh and Kinānah chanted the Oneness of God, affirming that He is without any partner. They had, no doubt, introduced some practices in pilgrimage which betrayed their national pride and honour. The alliance of the Quraysh, Kinānah and Khuzāʿah was known as Ḥims. They went around the Kaʿbah in a naked state and did not stay at ʿArafāt, dismissing it as the practice of the commoners.38
The Qurayshī reaction to their ancestral faith
The point that features in Arab traditions and poetry and which merits the attention of analysts, is that it was a Makkan who had distorted the Abrahamic faith. He was a Khuzāʿī by descent and hence a non-Quraysh. After the expulsion of Banū Khuzāʿah from Makkah, a reaction against their faith was inevitable. The Quraysh Arabs and Makkans were, no doubt, practitioners of idolatry yet they had not drifted completely from their ancestral faith. Idolatry was common. So was the attachment to idols. Yet the community leaders were aware of the roots of polytheism. They were swayed by customs of the day. Their sound psyche and conscience directed them to the Abrahamic faith and caused revulsion against the conventional faith. This spiritual longing, intellectual yearning and emotional urge impelled them to revert to their original faith. This was not restricted to a particular era; in each age this trend was noticeable. However, in the period coinciding with the Prophet’s advent this grew into a dynamic movement.
Reports indicate that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was known also as Abū Kabshah. For Abū Kabshah Wajz ibn Ghālib Khuzāʿī had abandoned idolatry and criticized those given to it. He reproached idolaters. While equating the Prophet’s denunciation of idolatry with Abū Kabshah’s earlier criticism, the Quraysh drew a parallel between the two. Abū Kabshah, it is worth-noting, was the maternal grandfather of the Prophet’s maternal grandfather. Some other reports state otherwise. However, the above account is authentic.39 According to Baghadādī, many persons of the day were known as Abū Kabshah.
It was the Ḥanīf movement, practised by the followers of the Ḥanīf faith who owed their allegiance to their progenitor, Prophet Abraham, in that he was a Muslim and Ḥanīf.40 According to Ibn Isḥāq, the Quraysh celebrated their annual religious festival near some idol, which they venerated. They would prostrate before it, go around it and offer animal sacrifice to it. Once as the Quraysh assembled for the same purpose, four persons dissociated themselves from them and after mutual consultation declared that their community had turned irreligious for having deserted the Abrahamic faith. The idols were lifeless objects, unable to hear or to see and could not benefit or harm anyone. They resolved to make the quest for true faith. They moved to different places for this purpose of ascertaining the Abrahamic faith. Baghdādī has provided their brief account, stating that they used to keep away from jāhiliyyah practices.41 Some reports put their number at six. It is not, however, confirmed. What is, nonetheless, certain is that a reaction was in the offing against the distorted faith of the day. It manifested their sound beliefs, which were cherished by the Makkans and Quraysh. By the time of the Prophet’s advent, the movement had grown strong. There were critics of idolatry in every age. Of them, Abū Kabshah was the most prominent among them. Those opposing idolatry were given the same title. The appellation of the same title on the Prophet (peace be upon him) adduces the point.
Ibn