high, of a fingle ftone, and placed in the midft of a temple fupported
by 56 pillars of maffy gold: this idol Mahmud Ebn SebeSleghin, who
conquered that part of India, broke to pieces with his own hands
Befides the idols we have mentioned, the Arabs worfhipped alfo
great numbers of others, which would take up too much time to
have diftindt accounts given of them, and not being named in the
Koran, are not fo much to our prefent purpofe: for befides that every
houfe-keeper had his houfe-hold god, or gods, which he laft took
leave of, and firft faluted at his going abroad and returning home %
there were no lefs than 360 idols 3, equalling in number the days of
their year, in and about th& Caaba of Mecca 5 the chief of whom was
Hobal+, brought from Belka in Syria into Arabia by Amru Ebn Lohai,
pretending it would procure them rain when they wanted it*. It was
the ftatue of a man made of red agate, which having by fome accident
loft a hand, the Koreijh repaired it with one of gold: he held
in his hand feven arrows without heads or feathers, fuch as the Arabs
ufed in divination5. This idol is fuppofed to have been the fame
with the image of Abraham *, found and deftroyed by Mohammed in
the Caaba, on his entring it, in the eighth year of the Hejra, when
he took Mecca s, and furrounded with a great number of angels and
prophets, as inferiour deities; among whom, as fome fay, was IJhtael
with divining arrows in his hand alfo?.
A fa f and Nayelah, the former the image of a man, the latter of
a woman, were alfo two idols brought with Hobal from Syria, and
placed the one on mount Safa, and the other on mount Merwa.
They tell us A fd f was the fon of Amru, and Nayelah the daughter
of Sabdl, both of the tribe of J or ham, who committing whoredom
-together in the Caaba, were by G od converted into ftone10, and afterwards
worfhipped by the Koreijh, and fo much reverenced by
them, that tho’ this fuperftition was condemned by Mohammed, yet
he was forced to allow them to vilit thofe mountains as monuments
of divine juftice11. - . • .
I {hall mention but one idol more of this nation, and that was a
lump of dough worfhipped by the tribe of Hamfa-, who ufed it with
more refpedt than the Papi/ls do theirs, prefuming not to eat it till
they were compelled to it by famine ,2.
Several of their idols, as Manah in particular, were no more than
large rude ftones, the worfhip of which the pofterity o f Ifmael firft
1 D’Herbelot. BibJ. Orient, p. 512." 2 A{ Moftatraf.. 3 Al Jannab. 4 Abulfed. Shahreft
Sec. ' Poe. Spec. 95. 6 Safio’ddin. 7 Poc. Spec. 97. 8 Abulfeda. 9 Ebn-al
Athir. al Jannab.'&c. 10 Poc. Spec. 98. 11 Kor3n. cap, 2. 12 A1 Moftatiaf. al Jauhari.
inintroduced;
for as they multiplied, and the territory o f Mecca grew
too ftrait for them, great numbers were obliged to feek new abodes;
and on fuch migrations it was ufual for them to take with them
fome of the ftones of that reputed holy land, and fet them up in the
places where they fixed; and thefe ftones they at firft only compafled
out of devotion, as they had accuftomed to do the Caaba. But this
at laft ended in rank idolatry, the Ifmaelites forgetting the religion
left them by their father fo far, as to pay divine worfhip to any
fine ftone they met with'.
Some of the pagan Arabs believed neither a creation paft, nor a Their no-
refurredtion to come, attributing the origin of things to nature, and “ “sre° *
their diflblution to age. Others believed both; among whom were (face,
thofe who when they died, had their camel tied by their fepulchre,
and fo left without meat or drink to perifh, and accompany them to
the other world, left they fhould be obliged, at the refurredtion, to
go on foot, which was reckoned very fcandalous2. Some believed a
metempfyehojis, and that of the blood near the dead perfon’s brain, was
formed a bird named Hamah, which once in a hundred years vifited
the fepulchre; tho’ others fay, this bird is animated by the foul of
him that is unjuftly flain, and continually cries OJ'cuni, Ofcuni, i. e.
give me to drink, meaning of the murtherer’s blood, till his death be
revenged; and then it flies away. This is exprefiy forbidden by the
Koran to be believed 3.
I might here mention feveral fuperftitious rites and cuftoms o f the
ancient Arabs, fome of which were abolifhed, and others retained by
Mohammed-, but I apprehend it will be more convenient to take notice
of them hereafter, occafionally, as the negative or pofitive precepts
o f the Koran, forbidding or allowing fuch practices, fhall be confidered.
Let us now turn our view from the idolatrous Arabs, to thofe
among them, who had embraced more rational religions.
The Perjians had, by their vicinity and frequent intercourfe with The Mn-
the Arabians, introduced the Magian religion among fome o f their
tribes, particularly that of Pamim ♦ , a long time before Mohammed, f“ “ed by
who was fo far from being unacquainted with that religion, that he fome of
borrowed many of his own inftitutions from it, as will be obferved
in the progrefs of this work. I refer thofe who are defirous to have
fome notion of Magifm, to Dr. Hyde’s curious account of it*; a fuc-
cindt abridgement of which may be read with much pleafure, in another
learned performance6.
1 Al Moftatarf. at Jannabi. 2 Abulfarag. p."i6o. 3 V. Poc. Spec. p_. 135* 4 AlMoflatraf.
5 In his Hilt, relig. vet. Perfar, 6 Dr. Pridemix's Conhefl. of the hilt, of the Old and New
Tell. Part I. Book 4.
The