My Great Endeavors : April 2021

Introduction

Arabs were pagans long b4 they became Muslims. Islam in large part is based on it. They worshiped many different deities. They were mostly based on Canaanite deities. They had various rituals.

History

In pre-Islamic Arabia there were pagans, Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians. Most Arabs were pagan and nomadic. There were 3 Jewish tribes in Medina. Zoroastrians and Christians lived in the east and south Arabia. Medina and Mecca was big on trading. The pagan Arabs made pilgrimages to Mecca. This was a time of peace. Any other times the Arab tribes were @ war with each other. The Kaaba contained 360 idols.

List of Deities

They worshipped spirits called Jinn. Today those spirits seem like magical people that live in a parallel universe. The word genie comes from Jinn. There are different types. Some people believe they built Solomon temple. Sometimes they possess people.

Allah: High god of the Arabs. Known as El Elyon by the Canaanites.

Amm: Moon god worshipped in Yemen. His wife was Asherah.

Attar: Storm god and the planet Venus.

Gad: Wealth god.

Haukim: God of justice. He was worshiped in Yemen.

Al-Lat: She was similar to Aphrodite. Daughter of Allah.

Manat: Goddess of destiny. Daughter of Allah.

Al-Uzza: Goddess of war and the evening star. Daughter of Allah.

Shams: Sun goddess of southern Arabia.

There are many more, but this will suffice.

There deities came from Canaan. A lot of Canaanite deities came from Babylonia.

Rituals (write about the pilgrimages)

Hajj: People went to Mecca to worship the 360 idols housed in the Kaaba. They would shave their heads. After Islam tookover the idos was destroyed. Muslims still make pilgrimages to the Kaaba.

Menstruation: Women would rub their period blood on certain stones.

Janazah: The burial practices of the Arabs. Goods were buried with the deceased.

Al-Naiyaha: These were the mourning practices of the Arabs. 'Women shaved their heads, ripped off their clothes, and scratched their faces.' Men wore a sackcloth and poured sand on their head.

Talbiyah: This was a special kind of prayer. People would chant around an idol, stone, or Kaaba. Muslims do this during the Hajj.

Ifada: A feast in honor of Quzah in Mecca.

Qurban: Sacrifice of the first animal during harvest to a certain deity. Other Semites did this too.

Tahannuth: Quraysh tribe did devotional practices during the Hajj or the mouth of Ramadan.

Origin of Islam

It is a mixture of Arab paganism, Judaism, and Christianity. Allah was the high god of the Arabs. Muhammad promoted the idea that Arabs should only worship Allah. B4 Islam Arab clans and tribes will battle each other. Islam brought them together, then they battled everyone else. Islam was mostly spread by conquest. I prefer Arabs to drop Islam, because I think it will make them better people. If they gave it up they would become great thinkers again. I also despise Judaism and Christ-insanity. The only good thing about Abrahamic religions is they made ritual human sacrifice less popular. Monotheism is hell.