Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 13
13 The need of water to sustain human and animal existence was urgent and insistent, and largely determined the pattern of life. With the exception of a few townships, Arab life throughout the peninsula was tribal and nomadic. Each tribe moved with its few belongings, its camels and sheep, in search of water and pasture, within a roughly defined area, according to the season of the year and the vagaries of the rainfall. Mecca, forty miles from the Red Sea, enjoyed a degree of pre-eminence on account of the Sanctuary attached to the Ka’aba, the House of God, a pilgrim resort traditionally built or rebuilt by Abraham through Ishmael. They revered Abraham as patriarch and prophet, and had vague notions of a Supreme God. They believed, however, that it was not possible for ordinary mortals to obtain access to Him save through intercessors. Abraham, being a Holy Man, had direct access to God, they conceived, but for themselves they sought the aid of gods and goddesses, whom they worshiped in the form of idols (39:4). For such intercession, it is related, they had installed as many as three hundred and sixty idols in the Ka’aba itself. Other towns had their own major and minor gods and goddesses. Such idolatry was prevalent throughout Arabia. The Arabs possessed certain types of virtue. They had a lively sense of honour, and were very