HISTORY OF
ISLAM - Part 12
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE KAABA AT THE
TIME OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD
Hello everyone! As salamu alaykum! My name is
A.G. I’m here to present the early life history of PM, pbuh, until the beginning of the revelation period
We have recorded 12 videos on this subject, and I tried to cover the most important incidents, just before the arrival of
Islam.
In this video, I will particularly talk about the
Arabian Peninsula before Islam, and also the significance of the city of
Mecca.
First of all, I want to answer why Mecca was significant to the people in
Pre-Islamic Arabia. The city of Mecca, was sacred to many people, because of the
Ka’ba. And the Ka’ba is the sanctuary built by P.Ib and his son Is. by God’s order. However, although P.Ib preached about the oneness of God, which is monotheism; later on
Arabs had replaced
Ibrahim’s monotheism with polytheism.
This means that pre-Islamic Arabs went away from the idea of worshipping one God; instead, they adopted the idea of worshipping idols besides God.
So, Ka’ba, which was built as the house of only 1 God, later on became a house of idols, like a pantheon. It was reported that the Ka’ba housed
360 idols, before the arrival of Islam.
Meccan Arabs in Pre-Islamic Arabia believed in
Allah as well. They believed that Allah created the world. Yet, at the same time, Allah was associated with partners as mediators in order to reach Him. They were saying: “
We are worshipping these idols so that they bring us closer to Allah!”
Also, each tribe had its own idol. For instance, the tribe of Quraysh worshipped the 3 most famous idols that were called Uzza,
Manat, and Lat. These 3 idols were considered the daughters of God.
Of course, there were other significant gods or goddesses for Arabs as well. for instance,
Hubal was one of them, which was respected much by the Arabs. So, one may ask why the Arabs respected these idols so much, and how idolatry began and spread in Mecca, while most Arabs were monotheist in the beginning?
Acc. To historical records, idolatry began in the 3rd cen.
C.E in Mecca. The story goes like this: The Ka’ba and Mecca were under the control of Khuzaa tribe at that time.
A person, called Amr ibn Luhay, who was one of the leaders of this tribe, went to
Damascus for trade. He saw there some people worshipping idols. He asked them what they were doing. They answered him that they wanted help from these idols; for instance, they asked rain from them and then they got the rain.
Amr wanted an idol from them to bring to Mecca, and they gave him the idol called Hubal. When he returned to Mecca, he erected the idol in the courtyard of Ka’ba and invited people to worship it. Out of ignorance, the people of Mecca began to worship that idol.
Later on, each family had their own idol, and they brought them to the Ka’ba. Then, idolatry quickly spread throughout
Arabia, and became the leading belief of the people in that region.
The ironic part is that, sometimes they would make their idols from flour, and take these idols with them before they travel. When they got hungry during travel, they would cut their gods into pieces and eat them. When they were asked why they do that, they would answer: “We are following in the steps of our ancestors.” And this was their only excuse.
Here is the question: Were all the pre-Islamic Arabs polytheist? No. A majority of Arabs in Mecca were polytheists; however, there were few Meccans, who rejected idol worship and followed the religion of Ib. These people were called Hanif, which literally means pure and clean in
Arabic. It also refers to the people who incline towards the truth. So the people who followed the religion of Ib. were called Hanif, because the Qur’an calls Ib. Hanif in Ch. 3, Ver. 67. Allah says: “Ib. was a Hanif and Muslim; and he was not of the polytheists.”
Also, these people abstained from any type of idolatry. They declared that these idols would not be able to harm or benefit them. They also ate only the animals which were slaughtered in the name of Allah.
Both of P.
M’s parents,
Amina and
Abdullah, were Hanif as well.
Let’s talk about the society
.. Arabs had a tribal society, and there was not a central authority; therefore, they did not have common social rules. Each tribe had its own rules and regulations. Also, each tribe was claiming to be superior to the others. As a result, the tribes in Arabia were often fighting with each other. And sometimes, one tribe would raid another tribe and plunder its goods, camels, women and children. Later on, the injured tribe would do the same to the other side as revenge. So anybody could do whatever they wanted, as long as they were able to.
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Website:
http://muslimbeliefs.com
- published: 23 Aug 2015
- views: 1914