Monday 5 January 2015

Mecca's Descent into idolatry after Abraham and Ishmael

How Paganism Entered Mecca after Abraham and Ishmael



Abraham and Ishmael in Mecca

Every nation had a Prophet. Abraham and Ishmael were Prophets for the Arabs prior to Prophet Muhammad. Abraham had sanctioned many practices which remained till the time of Prophet Muhammad. Abraham instituted the Hajj and related rituals.

Many Non-Muslim researchers say these practices were taken from the pagans. The problem here is that these Non-Muslims do not look at where these practices came from originally - they were originally Abrahamic practices.

So where did the paganism come from?

Prophet Muhammad taught us that the first person to change the religion of Ishmael was Amr ibn Luhai. Amr ibn Luhai is thought to have lived around the first century CE. Amr ibn Luhai must have lived at least 2000 years after the time of Abraham and roughly 500 years before Prophet Muhammad's birth.

Amr ibn Luhai was not a lay person. He was a chieftain who was one of the most respected chieftains.

He travelled to the Amalekites in Syria, who at the time were worshipping idols. Amr bin Luhai took an idol named Hubal back to Mecca - this was the first idol to be introduced to Mecca. This idol was placed in front of the Kaba and from this, people began proliferating idols.

There were 360 different idols, belonging to the pagans of Mecca, around the Ka’bah when Prophet Muhammad took charge of Mecca. These idols were subsequently broken, removed and burned under the authority of Prophet Muhammed

Did the entire society fall into idolatory?

There was a small number of people who were Hanif (Hunafa). These people were not pagans - they were monotheists. Amongst these was Waraqa ibn Nawfal (cousin of Khadija)

May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon Prophet Muhammad, Abraham and Ismail
 
 
 
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