Religious and Social Conditions
By and large, the inhabitants of Madinah followed the Quraysh whom they held to be the
guardians of the Holy sanctuary and the matrix of their religious creed as well as social
ethics. Pagan like other Arabs, the population of Madinah was, by and large, devotees of the
same idols as worshipped by the inhabitants of Hijaz and of Makkah in particular in addition
to a few regional or tribal deities considered to be the personal or private gods of these
clans. Thus, Manat was the oldest and the most popular deity of the populace of Madinah
that the Aus and Khazraj honored as the co-partner of God. The idol was set up on the sea-
shore, between Makkah and Madinah, at Mushallal near Qudayd. Al-Lat was the favorite
god of the people of Ta’if while the Qurayshites revered al-Uzza as their national deity. It
was so because the people of every place had a particular patron-god to which they used to
get emotionally attached. If anybody in Madinah had a wooden replica of an idol, he nor-
mally called it Manat, as was the idol kept in his house by ‘Amr b. Jamuh, the chief of Bani
Salama in Madinah, a practice that he had cherished before his conversion to Islam.
Ahmad b. Hanbal has related a tradition from ‘Urwa, on the authority of ‘Aisha, which says
that: “The Ansaar used to cry labbaik (Lit. At Your service) to Manat and worship it near
Mushallal before accepting Islam. And anyone who performed pilgrimage in its (Manat)
name did not consider it lawful to round the mounts of Safa and Marwa. When the people
once inquired from the Prophet (r): "O Messenger of Allah, we felt some hesitation during
the pagan past in going round Safa and Marwah"; God sent down the revelation:
"Lo! As-Safa and al-Marwah are amongst the indications of Allah.” [Qur'an 2:158]However, we are not aware of any other idol in Madinah equally glamorized as al-Lat, Ma-
nat, al-Uzza and Hubal or venerated like them, nor was there any idol set up in Madinah
which was paid a visit by the people from other tribes. Madinah does not appear to be
bristling with idols, unlike Makkah where one used to set up an idol in every house and the
vendors offered them for the sake of the pilgrims. Makkah was, all in all, the prototype and
symbol of idolatry in Arabia whereas Madinah simply trailed behind in such respect.
In Madinah, the people used to have two days devoted to games alone. When the Prophet
(r) came to Madinah, he said to them, “God has substituted something better for you, the
day of sacrifice and the day of breaking the fast." (Bulugh al-‘Arab)
Certain commentators of the Traditions hold the view that the two festivals celebrated by
the people of Madinah were Nawroz and Mehrjan, which they had perhaps inherited from
the Persians. (Saheehain)
Aus and Khazraj descended from a lineage whose nobility was acknowledged even by the
Quraysh. Ansaars were descendants of Banu Qahtan belonging to the southern stock of
‘Arab ‘Arbah, with whom the Quraysh had marital affinity. Hashim b. ‘Abdu Manaf had
married Salama bint ‘Amr b. Zayd of the Banu Adiy b. al-Najjaar, which was a clan of Khazraj.