What About the Pilgrimage?
“The Pilgrimage is a survival of the ancient pilgrimages to the Holy Stones. Almost none of the customs attended upon the pilgrimage derive from Muhammad’s time… Muhammad changed the sevenfold tawaf or circumambulation of the Kaaba only in one respect. Before his time, it was performed naked” (Payne, The History of Islam, p. 79, emphasis mine).
These customs were done to Hubal long before Muhammad, and none of these customs started in Muhammad’s time, they were already there. Muhammad just changed one thing, being naked, that’s all.
“…several pre-Islamic ritual practices, especially those connected with the Kaaba cult in Mecca, were continued by Muhammad…” (Frederick Denny, An Introduction to Islam, p. 56, emphasis mine).
“…important Muslim practices such as visiting the Kaaba, and the many details of the ceremony of Hajj, including visits of Safa and Marwa, and also throwing stones against the stone pillar symbolizing Satan, were all pre-Islamic practices of pagan Arabia” (Answering Islam, Norman Geisler, p. 309, emphasis mine).
“Pagan ritualism also contributed to the religious world into which Muhammad was born… The pagans of pre-Islamic Arabia taught that everyone should bow and pray towards Mecca during certain times of the day. Everyone should make a pilgrimage to Mecca to worship at the Kaaba at least once in their life. Once they arrived at Mecca, the pagans ran around the Kaaba seven times and kissed the Black Stone… That these pagan rites comprised the religion into which Muhammad was raised by his family [who were worshippers of Hubal, the Allah of Mecca] is acknowledged by all. Thus it is no surprise to find that, as Arab scholar Nazar-Ali has observed: ‘Islam retained many aspects of the pagan religion’” (Morey, Islamic Invasion, pp. 42–43, emphasis mine).
“Middle Eastern scholar, E.M. Wherry in his monumental work, A Comprehensive Commentary on the Quran, shows that worship of Allah and the worship of Baal (Hubal) involved the worship of heavenly bodies, the moon, the stars and the sun” (Moshey, Who Is This Allah?, p. 137, emphasis mine).
Notice Allah and Hubal or Baal, the religions are exactly the same, because the deities are the same!
Here are some more quotes about the origins of the ceremonies in Islam:
“Islam owes many of its most superstitious details to old Arabian paganism especially in the rites and rituals of the pilgrimage to Mecca (see Suras 2:153; 22:28–30; 5:1–4; 22:37)… the superstitions connected with the jinns [genies] and old folk tales such as those of Ad and Thamud… The entire ceremony of the pilgrimage has been shamelessly taken over from pre-Islamic practice… Circumambulation of a sanctuary was a very common rite practiced in many localities. The pilgrim during his circuit frequently kissed or caressed the Idol. Sir William Muir thinks that the seven circuits of the Kaaba ‘were probably emblematical of the revolution of the planetary bodies.’ While Zwemer goes so far as to suggest that the seven circuits of the Kaaba, three times rapidly and four times slowly were ‘an imitation of the inner and outer planets’… It is unquestionable that the Arabs at a comparatively late period worshipped the sun and other heavenly bodies” (Warraq, pp. 35–36, 40, emphasis mine).
Alfred Guillaume, professor of Arabic, in London says:
“The customs of heathenism have left an indelible mark on Islam, notably in the rites of pilgrimage” (Islam, p. 6, emphasis mine).
Notice how all the sources note that the rituals are from Mecca, where the chief god of Muhammad’s tribe dwelt and worshipped Hubal, the Allah of the Kaaba! The religion of Hubal and Allah are one and the same, because Hubal and Allah are one and the same!
Lastly Warraq writes:
“Muhammad did not find it necessary to introduce an altogether novel deity, but had contented himself with ridding the heathen Allah of his companions [the daughters of Allah]… Wellhausen also cites pre-Islamic literature where Allah is mentioned as a great deity. Had he not been accustomed from his youth to the idea of Allah as the supreme god, in particular in Mecca, it may be all doubted whether he would have come forward as a preacher of monotheism” (p. 42, emphasis mine).
Remember, Muhammad did not say Allah was great, but that Allah was the greatest among the other gods, acknowledging the pre-Islamic origin of Allah, and his religion.
