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JANUARY, 1883.]
THE ORACLE OF HUBAL.
who had thus imported the idol proceeded to engage in worshipping it and offering sacrifices to it exercises in which he was followed by his compatriots." Hubal became eventually the chief among the idols of the Ka'ba,--the presiding god in the temple, and the principal deity of the Quraishites, who were the guardians of the temple, "-the man to whom it was eventually indebted for its promotion being the same man that had introduced it from Syria." This pre-eminence of Hubal was evinced by the fact that in front of it the casting of lots with arrows took place." Its exaltation to this sapremacy among the idols of the Ka'ba took place probably at the time when that sanctuary of the Bani Quraish came to be the pantheon for the whole of Arabia." If so, we have here a noteworthy exemplification of the truth of the proverb, Facilis descensus Averni;' for the degeneration of the endless congeries of tribes in that immense country from the Religion of Abraham' to fetichism in some of its coarsest forms must have taken place within a mere fraction of the lifetime of one man,-'Amr bin Luhai, to whom it owed its elevation to the supreme status among the idols, being said to have been the first to introduce idolatry among his fellow-countrymen."
The historian Masa'ûdi gives specimens of the manner in which the Jushumite poets admoni. shed him to uphold the religion of Abraham. He records that their admonitions were all in vain, --he imported idols without number into the Sacred Territory." De Percival, however, shows that idol worship in the Hijaz existed long before this time, and he is of opinion that the crime of which the Musalman authorities accuse Amrû is that he first introduced into the Ka'b a images already held in veneration by the Arabs." Such a fact would help to remove the difficulty of making out how, if Hubal was the first idol introduced into the Ka'ba, it can be
understood to have been elevated to supremacy among the idols there. There is no doubt that in subsequent times it was chief. It is important, however, to qualify this by saying that it was chief among what might be termed the moveable or adventitious idols of the Ka'ba, - for an exception must always be made in favour of the Black Stone, which has from time immemorial been the fixed and permanent idol of the Ka'ba." Waqidi, speaking of the dignity of Hubal, says that it received almost as much homage as the Black Stone." This could never be second to Hubal or any other idol,-- being a bona fide bit of the celestial paradise, which is destined to escape the final conflagration by returning bodily, on the Day of Resurrection, to the place where it came 13
Hubal, whose name as is sometimes spelt Hebal' and generally "Hobal,' was a huge image made of red agate (Arab. 'aqiq) in the shape of an old man with a long heavy beard. One of his hands having by some accident been broken off, was replaced by the Quraish by a hand of gold." In connection with this idol there are seven arrows of the kind that were used by the Arabs for the purpose of divination. There is no agreement among writers as to whether, ordinarily, it was the custom to place the whole seven arrows in one hand, or in both, or whether they were not rather placed in front of him, and therefore between his hands, but not in either of them." De Percival says that they were consecrated to the idol and kept near it près d'elle')." The arrows that were kept for this kind of ceremony were, like those with which the Arabs were wont to cast lots,--that is, they were without heads, points, or wings; and they were distinguished from other arrows by the technical designations Azlám (pl. of zalam or xulam) and Qidah (pl. of gidh) 'arrows of divination." These curious arrows were kept in the temple
Ibid.
» Abulfida, Historia ante-Islamicr(edn. Fleischer, Leipsig, 1881), p. 136; Sirata'r Rasal, fol. 12; Do PerciVal, Histoire des Arabes, tomo I, p. 994.
15 Arnola, Islam and Christianity, p. 26. 34 Ibid.
Ibid. 91 Burckhardt, Arabia, vol. I, p. 299; De Percival, Histoire des Arabes, tome I, p. 228-4. * Sprenger, Life of Mohammad, p. 57.
De Percival, Histoire des Arabes, tome I, p. 224. 30 Pocock, Sperimen, p. 97; Arnold, Islm and Christianity, 28 Macbride, Mohammedan Religion Explain. ed, p. 37 (edn. Lond. 1857)
s Bate, The Black Stone (a work that will appear shortly). Sprenger, Life of Mohammad, p.1..
» Burton, Pilgrimage to EV Medinah and Meccah, vol.
II. p. 65 (edn. Lond. 1855).
Pocock, Specimen, p. 98 Reinaud, Monumenta V ulminica, tome I, p. 246; Sale, Prel. Disc. p. 14 ; De Percival, Histoire des Arabes, tome I, 224, 225 ; Dods, Mohammed, Buddha, and Christ, P. 74 (odn. Lond. 1877), Crichton, History of Arabia, vol. I, p. 277.
ss Pocock, Specimen, p. 98; Sala, Prel. Disc. p. 14. 30 Sale, Prel. Disc, p. 14. » Pocock, Specimen, p. 98.
» De Percival, Histoire des Arabes, tome I, p. 265; and II, 310.
Pocock, Specimen, pp. 98-99; De Percival, Histoire des Arabes, tome I. pp. 281,265 : Sale, Prel. Disc. p. 14; Syed Ahmed Khan, Customs of the pre-Islamic Arabians, p. 12; The Christian Remembrancer (Jan. 1855) p. 118.
