According to researcher George Kadar, the author of 'Pre-Islamic Arabian Gods', there were 360 idols around the Kaaba before Islam, with Hobal the greatest of them all. He also said that the Quraysh tribe manufactured, traded and exported idols to India. It was also said that Muawiya Ibn Abi Sufian was an idol merchant and that idols were brought to Makkah for people to purchase and take home. There was hardly a man from Quraysh who did not have an idol in his house to touch for blessings whenever he went in or out of the house.

The book also notes that Amr Ibn Ohaii Al-Khozaei was known as the 'father of idols' in Arabia and that he was the first to bring one from the Levant and place it in Makkah, ordering people to worship and respect it. The book also mentions that Hobal was the greatest of Quraysh idols and explains that all Arabian gods' names originated from three names - the moon, sun and Venus, considering this heavenly trinity as the nuclei of divinity for Semites, from whom monotheism originated.

Kadar explained that Arabian religious life in pre-Islamic periods was characterized by endless diversity of acts of worship and thought that celestial phenomena were acts that were no less worthy of worship than worldly and earthly phenomena. In ancient Yemen, the name Tho Samaei (Owner of the Sky) was very common.

Kadar's readers can notice that some names used to describe some ancient idols have become part of Allah's good and beautiful names after Islam, due to the divine meanings they have. These names include Al-Jabbar (the Compeller) Al-Hakeem (the Wise), Al-Aleem (the Knowing), Al-Hayy (the Alive), Al-Dayyan (the Judge), Al-Rahman (the Compassionate), Al-Sattar (the Protector), Al-Raheem (the Merciful), Al-Hadi (the Guider) and Allah. - Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Anbaa

By Salah Al-Sayer