Most of the Arabs had complied with the call of Ishmael (Peace be
upon him) , and professed the religion of his father Abraham (Peace be
upon him) They had worshipped Allah, professed His Oneness and followed His religion a long time until they forgot part of what they had been reminded of.
However,
they still maintained such fundamental beliefs such as monotheism as
well as various other aspects of Abraham’s religion, until the time when
a chief of Khuza‘a, namely ‘Amr bin Luhai,
who was renowned for righteousness, charity, reverence and care for
religion, and was granted unreserved love and obedience by his
tribesmen, came back from a trip to Syria where he saw people worship idols, a phenomenon he approved of and believed it to be righteous since Syria was the locus of Messengers and Scriptures, he brought with him an idol (Hubal) which he placed in the middle of Al-Kaabah and summoned people to worship it.
Readily
enough, paganism spread all over Makkah and, thence, to Arabia, people
of Makkah being custodians of not only the Sacred House but the whole
Haram as well. A great many idols, bearing different names, were
introduced into the area.
The Arabs believed that such idols, or heathen gods, would bring them nearer to Allah, lead them to Him, and mediate with Him for their sake, to which effect, the Qur’an goes:
“We worship them only that they may bring us near to Allah.” [39:3], and
“And they worship besides Allah things that hurt them not, nor profit them, and they say: These are our intercessors with Allah.” [10:18]
The polytheists, who faked Abrahamism, were so far detached from its precepts, and totally oblivious of its immanent good manners. They plunged into disobedience and ungodliness, and developed certain peculiar religious superstitions that managed to leave a serious impact on the religious and socio-political life in the whole of Arabia.
Religions of the Arabs
The polytheists who associated partners with Allah in worship admitted that He is the Sole Creator of the heavens, earth, sun, moon, day, and night, and that He is the Sole Sustainer of all Creation, Who grants all beings provisions, and Who has predetermined their destinies and decreed that they should be granted dissimilar amounts of provision in this worldly life, making some rich and some poor. They, just like Christ-worshippers, claimed that these idols are "the only way" to God/Allah.
