274 Notes
The three hundred sixty gods in the sanctuary must be understood as a sacred,
not a factual, number. Considering the small size of the Ka‘ba, it is likely that most,
if not all, the idols in Mecca were originally placed outside the sanctuary, near a
semicircular region called the Hijr. For more on the role and function of the Hijr see
Uri Rubin’s article “The Ka’ba: Aspects of Its Ritual Function and Position in Pre-
Islamic and Early Times,” in Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam (1986). In my
opinion, the best text on the subject of sacred places is still Mircea Eliade’s The
Sacred and the Profane (1959); see also his The Myth of the Eternal Return (1954). The
story of the “navel of the world” is treated in G. R. Hawting’s brief article “We Were
Not Ordered with Entering It but Only with Circumambulating It: Hadith and Fiqh
on Entering the Kaaba,” in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (1984).
What little we know about the Amir tribe’s worship of dhu-Samawi is outlined in a
brief article by Sheikh Ibrahim al-Qattan and Mahmud A. Ghul, “The Arabian
Background of Monotheism in Islam,” in The Concept of Monotheism in Islam and
Christianity, edited by Hans Kochler (1982).
An excellent discussion of paganism in the Near East before the rise of Islam
can be found in Jonathan P. Berkey, The Formation of Islam (2003). See also Robert G.
Hoyland, Arabia and the Arabs (2001). For a more in-depth analysis of the various
religious traditions that existed in the Arabian Peninsula before the rise of Islam, I
suggest Joseph Henninger’s brief article “Pre-Islamic Bedouin Religion” in Studies
on Islam, edited by Martin Schwartz (1981). Despite his strict monotheism, Muham-
mad wholeheartedly accepted the Jinn and even gave them their own chapter in the
Quran (Chapter 18). Muhammad may have equated the Jinn with some vague con-
cept of angelology. Thus good Jinn are angels and bad Jinn, especially Iblis (Satan),
who is often called a Jinn, are demons (see Quran 18:50).
An insightful discussion of the Ka‘ba’s Jewish influences can be found in G. R.
Hawting’s “The Origins of the Muslim Sanctuary at Mecca,” in Studies on the First
Century of Islamic Studies, edited by G.H.A. Juynboll (1982). That the traditions
regarding the origins of the Ka‘ba predate Islam is, I believe, definitively demon-
strated by Uri Rubin’s article “Hanafiyya and Ka’ba: An Enquiry into the Arabian
Pre-Islamic Background of din Ibrahim,” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam (1990).
A closer inspection of the traditions surrounding the Black Stone makes it clear that
this was a meteor that had fallen to earth. The Arab historian Ibn Sa’d states that
when it was first discovered, “the black stone shone like the moon for the people of
Mecca until the pollution of impure people caused it to go black.” Jacob’s dream can
be found in Genesis 28:10–17. For more on the Jews in Arabia see Gordon Darnell
Newby, A History of the Jews of Arabia (1988), especially pp. 49–55. For more on the
relationship between the Kahin and Kohen, see applicable entries in The Encyclope-
dia of Islam.
Some examples of the Quran’s use of explicit Christian imagery include its
mention of the “trumpets” that will herald the Last Judgment (6:73; 18:99; 23:101;
etc.), the fiery damnation awaiting sinners in hell (104:6–9), and the vision of para-
dise as a garden (2:25), though the latter may have its origins in Iranian religious tra-
ditions. A deeper study of this connection can be found in John Wansbrough,
Quranic Studies: Source and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation (1977) and H.A.R.
Gibb’s regrettably titled but extremely informative book Mohammedanism (1970).
For more general comments on the influence of Christianity in the Arabian Penin-
sula see Richard Bell, The Origins of Islam in Its Christian Environment (1968). The
story of Baqura can be found in al-Tabari, p. 1135, and also in the chronicles of al-
Azraqi as quoted in Peters, Mecca. Note that the Quranic claim that it was not Jesus,