Pre-Islamic Arabia

Authors Avatar

Examine the variety of religious beliefs and practices found in

 the pre-Islamic context.

        In Pre-Islamic Arabia, there were a great variety of religious beliefs and practices that were carried out by the Arabs. People held polytheistic views and worshipped many idols. “They worshipped stones, trees, idols, stars and spirits; in short everything conceivable except God” (Abul Ala Madudi)

        The people of Pre-Islamic Arabia were animistic, in which they believed that rocks, trees and springs were inhabited by spirits and so worshipped them. The Arabs also believed that if they went on pilgrimage to the locations where the spirits were, and touched the object it inhabited, some of the holiness would rub off onto them. Because there were no holy literature and scarcely any formal worship or information about the Gods, there were few moral customs and the Arabs were very relaxed about their religion.

Join now!

        The Ka’ba housed at least 300 different idols and so Mecca was central to polytheistic beliefs at the time. The Arabs believed in an all  powerful God called Allah (The chief god), who ruled over all the other gods such as, Allat (His Wife), Al-Mannat (the Goddess of fate) and Al-Uzzah (the Goddess of love). Bedouin polytheism (the dominant type of polytheism in Mecca) may have evolved from the polytheistic nature of the southern Arabian empire, as the Bedouins did believe that Allah was immaterial and that there were Gods in the sky. It was also compulsory for them ...

This is a preview of the whole essay