to all her female offspring which were given the name ‘Bahira’, after having their ears slit. The
Wasila was a female sheep which had ten successive female daughters in five pregnancies. Any  new births from this Wasila were assigned only for male people. The Hami was a male camel  which produced ten progressive females, and was thus similarly forbidden. In mention of this,  the Qur’ânic verses go:
“Allâh has not instituted things like Bahira ( a she-camel whose milk was spared for the idols and  nobody was allowed to milk it) or a Sa’iba (a she camel let loose for free pasture for their false  gods, e.g. idols, etc., and nothing was allowed to be carried on it), or a Wasila (a she-camel set  free for idols because it has given birth to a she-camel at its first delivery and then again gives  birth to a she-camel at its second delivery) or a Hâm (a stallion-camel freed from work for their  idols, after it had finished a number of copulations assigned for it, all these animals were  liberated in honour of idols as practised by pagan Arabs in the pre-Islamic period). But those who  disbelieve, invent lies against Allâh, and most of them have no understanding.” 5:103
Allâh also says:
“And they say: What is in the bellies of such and such cattle (milk or foetus) is for our males  alone, and forbidden to our females (girls and women), but if it is born dead, then all have  shares therein.” 6:139
It has been authentically reported that such superstitions were first invented by ‘Amr bin Luhai.
The Arabs believed that such idols, or heathen gods, would bring them nearer to Allâh, lead them to
Him, and mediate with Him for their sake, to which effect, the Qur’ân goes:
“We worship them only that they may bring us near to Allâh.” 39:3, and
“And they worship besides Allâh things that hurt them not, nor profit them, and they say: These  are our intercessors with Allâh.” 10:18
Another divinatory tradition among the Arabs was casting of Azlam (i.e. featherless arrows which were  of three kinds: one showing ‘yes’, another ‘no’ and a third was blank) which they used to do in case of  serious matters like travel, marriage and the like. If the lot showed ‘yes’, they would do, if ‘no’, they  would delay for the next year. Other kinds of Azlam were cast for water, blood-money or showed
‘from  you’, ‘not from you’, or ‘Mulsaq’ (consociated). In cases of doubt in filiation they would resort to the  idol  of Hubal, with a hundred-camel gift, for the arrow caster. Only the arrows would then decide the sort  of  relationship.If the arrow showed (from you), then it was decided that the child belonged to the tribe;  if  it showed (from others), he would then be regarded as an ally, but if (consociated) appeared, the  person would retain his position but with no lineage or alliance contract.
This was very much like gambling and arrow-shafting whereby they used to divide the meat of the  camels they slaughtered according to this tradition.
Moreover, they used to have a deep conviction in the tidings of soothsayers, diviners and astrologers.
A  soothsayer used to traffic in the business of foretelling future events and claim knowledge of private  secrets and having jinn subordinates who would communicate the news to him. Some soothsayers  claimed that they could uncover the unknown by means of a granted power, while other diviners  boasted they could divulge the secrets through a cause-and-effect-inductive process that would lead  to  detecting a stolen commodity, location of a theft, a stray animal, and the like. The astrologer belonged  to a third category who used to observe the stars and calculate their movements and orbits whereby  he  would foretell the future. Lending credence to this news constituted a clue to their conviction that  attached special significance to the movements of particular stars with regard to rainfall.
The belief in signs as betokening future events, was, of course common among the Arabians. Some  days and months and particular animals were regarded as ominous. They also believed that the soul  of  a murdered person would fly in the wilderness and would never rest at rest until revenge was taken.
Superstition was rampant. Should a deer or bird, when released, turn right then what they embarked  on would be regarded auspicious, otherwise they would get pessimistic and withhold from pursuing it.
People of pre-Islamic period, whilst believing in superstition, they still retained some of the Abrahamic  traditions such as devotion to the Holy Sanctuary, circumambulation, observance of pilgrimage, the  vigil on ‘Arafah and offering sacrifices, all of these were observed fully despite some innovations that