56. THE STORY OF KHUZA‘AH AND ‘AMR IBN LUHAYY
The story of khuza‘ah and ‘amr ibn luhayy and his worship of the idols in the land of the arabs
Ibn Ishaq said, “Ghubshan was from Khuza‘ah, who took over responsibility for the House from Banu Bakr Ibn ‘Abd Manat. The person who took over from them was ‘Amr ibn Al-Harith Al-Ghubshani. Quraish at that time were scattered, separated and lived in abodes dispersed between the people of Kinanah. It was said that they were known as Khuza‘ah because they left the sons of ‘Amr Ibn ‘Amir and when they arrived from Yemen, they were en route to Ash-Sham, but they stopped at Marr Az-Zahran and took up residence there. ‘Awn Ibn Ayyoob Al-Ansari, then Al-Khazraji, said regarding this:
When we settled at Batn Marr,
Khuza‘ah left us on fast horses,
Every wadi in Tihamah fought,
With pointed spears and sharpened swords.
So Khuza‘ah took on responsibility for the House and it was passed down from father to son, until the last of them, Hulail Ibn Hubshiyyah Ibn Salool Ibn Ka‘b Ibn ‘Amr Ibn Rabee‘ah Al-Khuza‘i. His daughter, Hubba, married Qusayy ibn Kilab. She bore him four sons: ‘Abdud-Dar, ‘Abd Manaf, ‘Abdul-‘Uzza and ‘Abd. Then the responsibility of the House passed to him, as we shall explain in detail in the relevant place, if Allah, Most High, wills – and in Him we place our trust.
Khuza‘ah continued to be responsible for the House for around three hundred years, or it was said, five hundred years. And Allah knows better. Ibn Hisham said, “I was informed by one of the scholars that ‘Amr Ibn Luhayy set out from Makkah for Ash-Sham on business and when he arrived at Ma’ab in the land of Al-Balqa’, which was at that time in the hands of the Amalekites, who were the descendants of ‘Imlaq, or it was said, ‘Imleeq Ibn Lawadh Ibn Sam, Ibn Nooh. He saw them worshipping idols and he said to them, “What are these idols that I see you worshipping?” They said to him, “We worship these idols and ask them for rain and they grant us rain, and we seek help from them and they help us.” He said to them, “Will you not give me an idol from among them and I will take it to the land of the Arabs, that they may worship it?” So they gave him an idol named Hubal and he brought it to Makkah and erected it there and ordered the people to worship and glorify it.”
Ibn Ishaq said, “They claim that the beginning of idol worship among the descendants of Isma‘eel (Peace be upon him) was that whenever they departed from Makkah and they were traveling in the wide open spaces and were feeling uneasy, they would take with them a stone from the stones of the Sacred Precincts in glorification of them and wherever they camped, they would place it on the ground and circumambulate it, as they circumambulated the Ka‘bah until this led them to worship the stones and their descendants forgot the religion that they had formerly followed.
It is reported in Saheeh Al-Bukhari on the authority of Abu Raja’ Al-‘Utaridi (May Allah be pleased with him) that he said, “During the Jahiliyyah (days of ignorance), if we could not find a stone, we would collect a handful of dust, then we would bring a sheep and milk it over it, then we would circumambulate it.”
Based on this, we may infer that there were some remnants of the rites practiced during the time of Ibraheem (Peace be upon him) to which they adhered, i.e. glorification of the House and circumambulation of it, Hajj and ‘Umrah, standing on ‘Arafat, visiting Muzdalifah, slaughtering a sacrificial animal, making the ihlal for Hajj and ‘Umrah, though they added to them things to them which were not a part of them. When Kinanah and Quraish made ihlal, they would say, “Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik, Labbaika La Shareeka Laka Labbaik, Illa Shareekan Huwa Lak, Tamlikuhi Wa Ma Malak (O, Allah! I respond to Your Call, I respond to Your Call and You have no partner except a partner whom You have and You own all that he owns).” So they would declare His Oneness in the talbiyyah, then they would insert into it their idols and they would place their ownership in His Hand. Allah, Most High, said to Muhammad (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him): {And most of them believe not in Allah except that they attribute partners unto Him (i.e. they are mushrikoon [polytheists].} See also Soorah Al-An‘am 6:121) (Soorah Yoosuf 12:106). That is, they do not affirm My Oneness except that they ascribe partners to Me from among My creation.
And it has been confirmed in the Saheeh that when the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) heard them saying, “Labbaika La Shareeka Laka Labbaik (I respond to Your Call and You have no partner,” he said, “Qad, Qad (Enough, enough).”
And ‘Abdullah Ibn Ahmad narrated on the authority of ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ood (May Allah be pleased with him), who reported from the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) that he said, “The first person to let animals roam free for the idols was the father of Khuza‘ah, ‘Amr Ibn ‘Amir and I saw him dragging his entrails in the Fire.”
And Al-Bukhari narrated on the authority of ‘A’ishah (may Allah be Pleased with her) that she said, “The Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “I saw the Hellfire and its different portions were consuming each other and saw ‘Amr dragging his intestines (in it), and he was the first person to establish the tradition of letting animals loose (for the idols).”
What is meant is that ‘Amr Ibn Luhayy – may Allah Curse him – introduced heresies to them in their religion by which he changed the Religion of Al-Khaleel (Peace be upon him) and the Arabs followed him in that, which caused them to stray far from the truth.
And Allah, Most High, rebuked them in His Noble Book in more than one Verse, such as His Words: {And say not concerning that which your tongues put forth falsely: “This is lawful and this is forbidden,” so as to invent lies against Allah.} (Soorah An-Nahl 16:116) and His Words: {Allah has not instituted things like baheerah (a she-camel whose milk was spared for the idols and nobody was allowed to milk it) or a sa’ibah (a she-camel let loose for free pasture for their false gods, idols, etc. and nothing was allowed to be carried on it), or a waseelah (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 ham (a male camel freed from work for their idols, after it had finished a number of matings assigned for it. All these animals were liberated in honor of idols as practiced by pagan Arabs in the pre-Islamic period). But those who disbelieve invent lies against Allah and most of them have no understanding} (Soorah Al-Ma’idah 5:103). We have discussed this in detail and we made clear the difference of opinion among the Salaf regarding its tafseer. So whoever wishes to read it may find it there, all praise and thanks be to Allah. And He, Most High, says, {And they assign a portion of that which We have provided them unto what they know not (i.e. false deities). By Allah, you shall certainly be questioned about (all of) that which you used to fabricate.} (Soorah An-Nahl 16:56)
And He, Most High, says, {And they assign to Allah a share of the tilth and cattle which He has created, and they say, “This is for Allah according to their pretending, and this is for our (Allah’s so-called) partners.” But the share of their (Allah’s so-called) “partners” reaches not Allah, while the share of Allah reaches their (Allah’s so-called) “partners’ ‘! Evil is the way they judge! And so to many of the mushrikoon (polytheists – see v. 2:105) their (Allah’s so-called) “partners’ ‘ have made fair-seeming the killing of their children, in order to lead them to their own destruction and cause confusion in their religion. And if Allah had willed they would not have done so.
So leave them alone with their fabrications. And according to their pretending, they say, “such-and-such cattle and crops are forbidden, and none should eat of them except those whom we allow.” And (they say) there are cattle forbidden to be used for burden or any other work, and cattle on which (at slaughtering) the Name of Allah is not pronounced, lying against Him (Allah). He will recompense them for what they used to fabricate. And they say: “What is in the bellies of such-and-such cattle (milk or fetus) is for our males alone, and forbidden to our females (girls and women), but if it is born dead, then all have shares therein.” He will punish them for their attribution (of such false orders to Allah). Verily, He is Most Wise, All-Knowing. (Tafseer At-Tabari, Vol. 8, page 49). Indeed lost are those who have killed their children from folly, without knowledge, and have forbidden that which Allah has provided for them, inventing a lie against Allah. They have indeed gone astray and were not guided.} (Soorah Al-An‘am 6:136-140)
And Al-Bukhari narrated in his Saheeh on the authority of ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him) that he said, “If you wish to know about the ignorance of the Arabs, refer to Soorah Al-An‘am after Verse No. 130: {Indeed lost are those who have killed their children from folly, without knowledge and have forbidden that which Allah has provided for them, inventing a lie against Allah. They have indeed gone astray and were not guided} (Soorah Al-An‘am 6:140). We have already given the explanation of this Verse and the heresies they introduced into the Religion, which were false and wicked, and which their leader, ‘Amr ibn Luhayy – may Allah Curse him – thought were beneficial and a mercy to the cattle and camels, but he was a liar and fabricator in this. And in spite of his ignorance and misguidance the foolish, common people followed him. Indeed, they followed him in something far worse than that, i.e. the worship of idols besides Allah, the Almighty, the All-Powerful. And they altered the True Religion and the Straight path with which Allah sent Ibraheem, His Khaleel (Peace be upon him) and perverted the religious knowledge, when they themselves had no knowledge and no evidence – be it authentic or weak. And in doing so, they followed those pagan nations who came before them, imitating the people of Nooh (Peace be upon him), who were the first people to associate partners with Allah and to worship idols, which is why Allah sent Nooh (Peace be upon him) to them. He was the first Messenger who prohibited the worship of idols, as we made clear earlier, in the story of Nooh (Peace be upon him), {And they said, “You shall not leave your gods, nor shall you leave Wadd, nor Suwa‘, nor Yaghooth, nor Ya‘ooq, nor Nasr (names of the idols). And indeed they have led many astray.”} (Soorah Nooh 71:23,24). ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him) said, “They (the idols) were righteous persons from among the people of Nooh (Peace be upon him) and when they died, they used to sit around their graves, then after a long period of time had passed, they began to worship them.” And we have explained how they used to worship them previously in such detail, that there is no necessity to repeat it here.
By Ibn Katheer
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