Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad
1. Arabia before Islam
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tent. He stood at the door and commanded her to take off all her
jewellery and hand it over to him.
While the woman was taking off her jewellery, the man stood at
the door with his back towards it, so that he did not catch sight of
the woman while she was taking off her jewellery.
These Arabs had not been idol worshippers since ancient
times. Idolatry was only a later introduction into their lives through
foreign influence. The idols were imported into Arabia. So there
was no ideology behind this idol worship. It was thus of a
superficial nature, having no deep ideological or philosophical
root. For instance, once an Arab wanted to take revenge for his
father. So he went to an idol called Dhul Khalasa for divining
arrows. But the answer that came from the idol was not in the
affirmative. This enraged the Arab and, addressing the idol, he
uttered these words: O Dhul Khalasa, had your father been killed
you would never have uttered this falsehood that the oppressor
should not be punished.”
Similarly, another Arab led his camels to his idol Sad in order
to seek its blessing. It was a tall idol, and was covered in blood due
to the sacrifices made to it. On seeing this sight, the camels were
frightened and ran away. When the Arab saw the flight of his
camels, he hit the idol with a stone, abusing him:
“May God destroy you. I had come to seek your
blessings and you made my camels run away.”
