ISLAM AND ANIMISM 5

We say to you regarding these tales: "These are senseless stories and the nonsensical fables of old women of the Arabs, who kept reciting them night and day."

When we read the account of pre-Islamic worship at Mecca, we realize how many of the ancient customs persist in Islam. The principal idols of Arabia were the following:

• Hôbal was in the form of a man and came from Syria; he was the god of rain and held a high place of honor.
• Wadd was the god of the firmament. Special prayers for rain and against eclipses were taught by Mohammed.
• Suwah, in the form of a woman, was said to date from before the Great Flood.
• Yaghuth had the shape of a lion.
• Ya’ook was in the form of a horse and was worshiped in Yemen. (Bronze images of this idol are found in ancient tombs and are still used as amulets.)
• Nasr was the eagle god.
• El Uzza, identified by some scholars with Venus, was worshiped at times in the form of an acacia tree (cf. Tree-worship by Moslems).
• Allat was the chief idol of the tribe of Thakif at Taif, who tried to compromise with Mohammed by offering to accept Islam if he would not destroy their god for three years. The name appears to be the feminine form of Allah.
• Manat was a huge stone worshiped as an altar by several tribes.
• Duwar was the virgin’s idol; young women used to walk in procession around it, which is how it received its name.
• Isaf and Naila were idols that stood near Mecca on the hills of Safa and Mirwa; the visitation of these popular shrines is now a part of the Moslem pilgrimage—meaning they perpetuate ancient idolatrous rites.
• Habhab was a large stone on which camels were slaughtered.

In every Moslem land, sacred stones, sacred trees, and the like abound; in most cases, these were formerly shrines of pagan (and in some cases, Christian) sanctity.