VI. and VII. centuries of Paganism in Arabia

In this thesis, we have VI. and VII. We examined the existence of idolatry and idols in Arabia for centuries. Before and during the advent of Islam, we showed the origins and conditions of idols in Arabia and idolatry and examined the removal of idols with Islam. In this context, we applied to the books of biography and history written on this subject, as well as to articles and encyclopedia articles on the subject. Basically, we will take the first hand sources and then the works and articles written today. We dealt with the issue and came to a conclusion. Throughout history, people preferred to worship and believe in a visible and touched substance, that is, images, against the invisible god. It can be said that this is the embodiment of the abstract in general. Believing in the statues/exemplars of inanimate deities that appeared next to the invisible deity and seeking help from them had been the biggest deviation points of people. According to ancient Islamic historians, the desire to worship concrete gods brought by the Arab understanding and belief became widespread, due to the love of the Kaaba, and when they moved away from it, they turned around the Kaaba as an example, together with the concrete understanding of god and external factors. We can say that the Arabs mostly worshiped idols/statues that are shapeless or not human. These were described and named as sanem, ensab and vesen as it is mentioned in the Qur'an. On the other hand, we can observe that idols in human form were influenced by pagan beliefs in Syria, Rome, Iran and Egypt. Again, Idols such as Vedd, Süva', Yegūs, Yeûk and Nesr from the time of Noah were idols worshiped in various parts of Arabia. According to Islamic historians and the Qur'an, people had been worshiping idols since the time of the prophets Idris and Noah. At that time, idols and idolatry were common not only in Arabs but also in other civilizations. This was also the case in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, and other civilizations. In Arabia, where Islam was born and spread, idol worship and worship were also common. There had been Arab tribe migrations to the middle of Arabia and to the north and south directions due to Noah's flood, the Arim flood or various reasons. Arab tribes, who were influenced by other tribes and religions for both these migrations, trade and various reasons, had acquired some idols for themselves. Therefore, idolatry was widespread throughout Arabia. According to the view of most of the Islamic historians, the idolatry in Mecca started by Amr bin Luhay continued until the presence of 360 idols inside and outside the Kaaba, together with big idols such as Hübel, Lat, Manat and Uzza. The animist, nature and spirit worship beliefs of the Arabs in the early ages were influenced by the religions and beliefs around Arabia and continued in the form of the spread of paganism. Paganism received its first serious criticism with the advent of Islam. With the Conquest of Mecca (630), the idols were destroyed. However, during the reign of Abu Bakr, there were those who wanted to continue the life of paganism. The pagans lost their hope when the rebellions of the first caliph were decisively suppressed. With the conquests of the Umar period, paganism was thus completely eliminated in Arabia. Keywords: Idol, İdolatry, Sanem, Vesen, Ensab. Science Code: 60303