RELIGIONS OF THE ARABS
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 Allâh, 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-Ka‘bah and  summoned people to worship it. Readily enough, paganism spread all over Makkah and, thence, to
Hijaz, 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.
An idol called ‘Manat’, for instance, was worshipped in a place known as Al-Mushallal near Qadid on  the
Red Sea. Another, ‘Al-Lat’ in Ta’if, a third, ‘Al-‘Uzza’ in the valley of Nakhlah, and so on and so forth.
Polytheism prevailed and the number of idols increased everywhere in Hijaz. It was even mentioned  that ‘Amr bin Luhai, with the help of a jinn companion who told him that the idols of Noah’s folk –
Wadd, Suwa‘, Yaguth, Ya‘uk and Nasr – were buried in Jeddah, dug them out and took them to
Tihama.
Upon pilgrimage time, the idols were distributed among the tribes to take back home. Every tribe, and  house, had their own idols, and the Sacred House was also overcrowded with them. On the Prophet’s  conquest of Makkah, 360 idols were found around Al-Ka‘bah. He broke them down and had them  removed and burned up.
Polytheism and worship of idols became the most prominent feature of the religion of pre-Islam Arabs  despite alleged profession of Abraham’s religion.
Traditions and ceremonies of the worship of their idols had been mostly created by ‘Amr bin Luhai,  and  were deemed as good innovations rather than deviations from Abraham’s religion. Some features of  their worship of idols were:
Self-devotion to the idols, seeking refuge with them, acclamation of their names, calling for their  help in hardship, and supplication to them for fulfillment of wishes, hopefully that the idols (i.e.,  heathen gods) would mediate with Allâh for the fulfillment of people’s wishes.
Performing pilgrimage to the idols, circumrotation round them, self-abasement and even  prostrating themselves before them.
Seeking favour of idols through various kinds of sacrifices and immolations, which is mentioned  in the Qur’ânic verses:
“And that which is sacrificed (slaughtered) on An-Nusub (stone-altars)” 5:3
Allâh also says:
 “Eat not (O believers) of that (meat) on which Allâh’s Name has not been pronounced (at the  time of the slaughtering of the animal).” 6:121
Consecration of certain portions of food, drink, cattle, and crops to idols. Surprisingly enough,  portions were also consecrated to Allâh Himself, but people often found reasons to transfer parts  of Allâh’s portion to idols, but never did the opposite. To this effect, the Qur’ânic verses go:
“And they assign to Allâh a share of the tilth and cattle which He has created, and they say: ‘This  is for Allâh according to their pretending, and this is for our (Allâh’s so-called) partners.’ But the  share of their (Allâh’s so-called) ‘partners’, reaches not Allâh, while the share of Allâh reaches  their (Allâh’s so-called) ‘partners’. Evil is the way they judge.” 6:136
Currying favours with these idols through votive offerings of crops and cattle, to which effect, the
Qur’ân goes:
“And according to their pretending, they say that such and such cattle and crops are forbidden,  and none should eat of them except those whom we allow. And (they say) there are cattle  forbidden to be used for burden or any other work, and cattle on which (at slaughtering) the
Name of Allâh is not pronounced; lying against Him (Allâh).” 6:138
Dedication of certain animals (such as Bahira, Sa’iba, Wasila and Hami) to idols, which meant  sparing such animals from useful work for the sake of these heathen gods. Bahira, as reported  by the well-known historian, Ibn Ish, was daughter of Sa’iba which was a female camel that gave  birth to ten successive female animals, but no male ones, was set free and forbidden to yoke,  burden or being sheared off its wool, or milked (but for guests to drink from); and so was done