other deities, who were fubordinate to him, they called limply al I -
lahdt, i. e. the goddeßes; which v*ords the Grecians not underftandmg,
and it being their conftant cuftom to refolve the religion of every
other nation into their own, and find out gods of theirs to match
the other’s, they pretend the Arabs worlhipped only two deities, Oro-
tnlt and Alilat, as thofe names are corruptly written, whom they
will have to be the fame with Bacchus and U r a n ia pitching on the
former as one of the. greateft of. their own gods, and educated in
Arabia, and on the other, becaufe of the veneration fhewn by the
Arabs to*the liars“.
That they acknowledged one fupreme G od, appears, to omit
other,proof, .'from their ufual form of addreffing themfelves to him,
which was this, I dedicate my [elf to thy fervice, O G o d . I dedicate
,myfelhto thy fervice, O G o d ! %hou haß no companion, except thy com-*
panion o f -whom, thou art abfolute Mafier, and. o f whatever is his*, bo
that they fuppofed the idols not to bq Jiti juris,^ tho they offered a-
crifices and other offerings to them, as well as to G o p, who was alio
often put -off with the lead: portion, as) Mohammed upbraids, them.
Thus 'when they planted fruit -trees, or fo wed a field,^ they divided
it 'by a line’jhtö two: !parts, : fetting one apart for their idols, and the
•other for G o d ; i f any of the fruits happened to fall front the idol s
part into G o d’s, they made reftitution; but if from G ods part into
the idol’s, they made no reftitution., .So when they watered the
idol’s grounds, if the water broke ; over the channels made for that
purpofc, and ran on G o d’s part, they, dammed it up again; but it
the contrary, they let it run on, faying, they wanted what was G od s,
but he. wanted nothing ?. In the fame manner, if the offering de-
figned for’ G od happened * to be: better than that defigned for the
idol, they made an exchange, but not otherwise4- .
nj It was from this’grofs idolatry, or the worfhip of inferior deities,
or companions o f G o o , as the Arabs continue to call them that Mohammed
reclaimed his.countrymen. eftablifhing the foie worfhip o f the
true G od among them; fo that how much foever the Mohammedans
are to blame in other points, they are far from being idolaters, as
feme ignorant writefs have pretended.. • - - • • • . . . -
The worfhip of the ftars the Arabs might eafily be led into, from
their obferving the changes of weather to happen at the rifing or fett
i g of certain of them', which after a long Courfe of experience m- 1
1 V. Herodot. 1. 3. c. 8. Arrian, p. 161, i6a. & Strab. 1. 16.
al dorr. * Al Beidavri. I V. Poll.
1 Al Shahreftani. j 3 Nodhm
duced