Bani Hashim preserved by the historians and genealogists, although fewer in number, elo-
quently speak of the nobility of their character and moderation of their disposition, the
reverence they paid to the House of God, their sovereign contempt for the things unjust and
uneven, their devotion to fair-play and justice, their willingness to help the poor and the
oppressed, their magnanimity of heart, their velour and horsemanship, in short, of every
virtue admired by the Arabs of the pagan past. Bani Hashim, however, shared the faith of
their contemporaries which had beclouded the light of their soul; but despite this failing,
they had to have all this goodness as the forefathers of the great Prophet (r) who was to
inherit their ennobling qualities and to, illustrate them by his own shining example for the
guidance of the entire human race.
MAKKAH IN PAGANISM
The Quraysh continued to glorify the Lord of the worlds, from whom all blessings flow, like
their forefathers Ibrahim and Isma’il (u) until 'Amr b. Luhayy became the chief of Khu-
za'ites. He was the first to deviate from the religion of Isma'il; he set up idols in Makkah and
bade the people to worship and venerate them, he instituted the custom of sa’iba which
were to be held in reverence. 'Amr b. Luhayy also modified the divine laws of permissible
and impermissible. It is related that once 'Amr b. Luhayy went from Makkah to Syria on
some business where he found the people worshipping idols. He was so impressed by the
ways of the idol worshippers that he obtained a few idols from them, brought them back to
Makkah and asked the people there to pay divine honors to them.
It might have been so, or, perhaps, on his way to Syria 'Amr b. Luhayy had happened to
pass through Betra which was variously known to ancient historians and geographers as
Petraea and Petra. It was the key city on the caravan route between Saba and the Mediter-
ranean, located on an arid plateau three thousand feet high, to the south of what is today
called Transjordan, as mentioned by the Greek and Roman historians. The city was founded
by the Nabataeans, ethnically an Arab tribe, in the early part of the sixth century B. C. These
people carried their merchandise to Egypt, Syria, valley of the Euphrates and to Rome. Most
likely, they took the way to the valley of the Euphrates through Hijaz. The Nabataeans were
an idolatrous people who made their deities of graven stones. Some historians hold the
view that al-Lat, the famous deity of the Northern Hijaz during the pre-Islamic period, had
been originally imported from Petra and was assigned an honored place among the local
gods and goddess.
The above view finds a confirmation in the History of Syria by Philip K. Hitti who writes
about the religion of Nabataean kingdoms:
"At the head of the pantheon stood Dushara (dhu-al-Shara, Dusara), a sun deity wor-
shipped under the form of anobelisk or an unknown four-cornered black stone.... Associated
with Dushara was Al-Lat, chief goddess of Arabia. Other Nabataean goddesses cited in the