A Brief Study of Idolatry in the Arabian Peninsula before Islam

Before the Prophet Muhammad, the chosen, had his mission, most people in Hijaz took idols as their object of worship. The article introduces, through an analytical approach and reviewing the documents, a brief account about idolatry in the Arabian Peninsula and an image of the way idol-worshipers followed to get to the Ultimate Reality in their worship of idols. We can infer from the result of this study that they were governed by accidental polytheism. Also, the form of their polytheism is said to be of two kinds: "polytheism in ontological lordship" and "polytheism in divinity". In other words, polytheists think that idols and spirits beyond idols play a role in designing part of the universe on the one hand and such things have been thought to be worth worshipping on the other.