Religions of Jahiliyya Arabia

Al-Rahiq al-Makhtum sketches the religions of the Arabs before Islam as follows. Most of them were on the religion of Abraham through the call of Isma'il, until time lengthened on them, and then Amr ibn Luhayy introduced idols, so that polytheism became the most visible mark of the religion of the people of the Jahiliyya. Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Sabianism found their way into the lands of the Arabs, and then all these religions fell into decay. ^{2 3 4}

Most Arabs had followed the call of Isma'il when he invited them to the religion of their father Abraham. They worshipped God, affirmed His oneness, and professed His religion, until time lengthened and they forgot part of what they had been reminded of. Monotheism remained among them, and several rites of the religion of Abraham. ^{2 5} Remnants of the religion of Abraham also remained after polytheism, which they never entirely abandoned, such as honouring the House, circumambulating it, the pilgrimage and the lesser pilgrimage, standing at Arafat and Muzdalifa, and offering camels, though they introduced innovations in these. ⁶; see the Hums.

Amr ibn Luhayy, chief of Khuza'a, brought Hubal from Syria and placed it inside the Ka'ba, and he invited the people of Mecca to polytheism, and they answered him. Then the people of the Hijaz followed them, because they were the custodians of the House and the people of the sanctuary. ^{2 5} The oldest of their idols was Manat at al-Mushallal near Qudayd; then al-Lat at al-Ta'if; then al-Uzza in Wadi Nakhla. These three were their greatest idols. Then polytheism and the number of idols multiplied in every part of the Hijaz, until each tribe had an idol and then each house had one, and they filled the Sacred Mosque with idols. ^{2 7} Thus polytheism and idol worship became the greatest manifestation of the religion of the people of the Jahiliyya, who claimed that they were on the religion of Abraham. ⁸ The rites of their worship are in idol worship in the Jahiliyya; divination by arrows is in the arrows and gambling; soothsaying and astrology in soothsaying and the rising of the stars; and augury in tiyara and the owl.

This religion, the religion of polytheism, idol worship, and belief in illusions and superstitions, was the religion of most Arabs, and Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Sabianism found their way into the lands of the Arabs. ³ Judaism, on its entry, is in its own entry, and Christianity in its own entry.

Zoroastrianism was mostly found among the Arabs who lived next to the Persians: in the Arab part of Iraq and in Bahrain (al-Ahsa'), Hajar, and the coasts of the Gulf near them. Men from Yemen also adopted it during the Persian occupation. ^{4 9}

The Sabians: excavations in Iraq and elsewhere showed that their religion was that of the people of Abraham, the Chaldeans. Many people in Syria and Yemen adhered to it in ancient times. After Judaism and Christianity followed one another, its structure weakened and its activity faded, but remnants of its adherents remained, mixed with or neighbouring the Zoroastrians, in the Arab part of Iraq and on the shores of the Gulf. ^{4 9} See the Harranian Sabians.

The author holds that when Islam came, these religions had fallen into decay and ruin. The polytheists who claimed the religion of Abraham were far from the commands and prohibitions of his law, and there grew up among them, over time, what grows among pagans of customs and traditions that function as religious superstitions. ⁴ Judaism, in his view, had turned into hypocrisy and arbitrariness, and its leaders controlled the people and made their aim the favour of wealth and leadership. Christianity had become hard to understand and had confused God with man, and it had no real influence on the souls of the Arabs who professed it, because its teachings were distant from their way of life. The rest of the religions were in the condition of their adherents, like that of the polytheists. ¹⁰

The last paragraph is the author's judgement from within the Sunni framework. The views of modern scholarship on the religions of the Arabs before Islam, and the views of Jews and Christians on their history in the Peninsula, have not been added. Al-Masudi's classification of the Arabs of the Jahiliyya into sects is mentioned in this entry's data.