HAJJ

The Hajj is obligatory for all Muslims. This "pilgrimage" or "major pilgrimage" must be performed at least once in a Muslim's lifetime and requires travel to Saudi Arabia. The dates for the Hajj vary from year to year because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar which is about 11 days shorter than the solar calendar. Hajj is conducted on the 7th to the 13th day of the 12th month of the Islamic calendar. The Umra, or small Hajj, may be performed at any time of year.

The rituals of Hajj and Umra include such things as ablution or ritual washing, repetitive prayer, walking around the Kaaba seven times while kissing the black stone or at least pointing to it on each round, running between Al-Safa and Al-Marwah seven times, drinking from the well of Zamzam, sacrificing animals, visiting the hills of Arafa and Mina, crying out loud, throwing stones at the devil, and cutting hair or shaving heads.

Islamic tradition suggests that Abraham was ordered by Allah to leave Hagar and Ishmael alone in the desert. The story goes that Ishmael was dying of thirst and so Hagar ran frantically back and forth between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah seven times in search of water. Then Ishmael was supposed to have cried out, and hit the ground with his foot (some variations on that include Gabriel), and water sprang forth from the ground. This is how the source of the well that is known as Zamzam is said to have appeared, from which Hagar was able to give Ishmael water.

Genesis 21:14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave [it] unto Hagar, putting [it] on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

To suggest that Abraham or Hagar and Ishmael wandered their way from Israel to what eventually became Mecca, would require them to have wandered across over a thousand kilometers of - at that time - unpopulated, uncharted, unknown, barren, desolate desert wasteland.

An additional difficulty with the tradition taught to Muslims, is that there is not a single shred of archaeological or historical evidence that suggests that Mecca ever existed before the 4th century AD. Please see the "History of Mecca" video for more.

Much of the following is credited to the 20 year full-time study of Islam accomplished by Dr. Rafat Amari, that is expounded in his book, "Islam: In Light of History". His website is available at the third link on this video.

The Hadith records that pagans controlled the Kaaba before Mohammed started his religion, and that the Kaaba contained 360 idols. After Mohammed returned to Mecca from Medina and broke the "Truce of Hudaybiyyah" he had made with his own tribe the Quraish, he then removed all the idols ..... except one. The black stone that remains to this day is the same that pre-Islamic pagans went on pilgrimage to and circumambulated, in Arabian moon god and Star Family worship.

Making the pilgrimage to that black stone is one of the five pillars of Islam and thus is obligatory for all Muslims to perform at least once in their lifetime. This of course places a severe financial burden on poor Muslims that live in other parts of the world, and even though it's a requirement of Mohammed's religion, millions of Muslims die before they are ever able to afford to travel to Mecca. However from pre-Islamic pagan times unto today, the Hajj has provided a bonanza of imported wealth transferred to Mecca, from elsewhere. So the question arises, would a good God impose such a tremendous physical and financial burden, that falls most heavily on the poorest, and least able, among his followers?

The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, "Whoever performs Hajj for Allah's pleasure and does not have sexual relations with his wife, and does not do evil or sins then he will return (after Hajj free from all sins) as if he were born anew."

So Muslims are taught that walking around the Kaaba seven times, kissing the black stone, traveling from hill to hill near Mecca, casting stones and cutting their hair may provide remission of sin, while at the same time they are taught to reject the shed blood of Jesus Christ that saves everyone from sin - rich or poor - who have faith in His shed blood.

'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: Allah's Messenger may peace be upon him) said to me: Had your people not been unbelievers in the recent past (had they not quite recently accepted Islam), I would have demolished the Ka'ba and would have rebuilt it on the foundation (laid) by Ibrahim; for when the Quraish had built the Ka'ba, they reduced its (area), and I would also have built (a door) in the rear.

So Mohammed credited the Quraish with building the Kaaba from the ground up. However as mentioned in the "History of Mecca" video the history of Arabia suggests that the Kaaba was built by the leader of the Yemeni tribe of the Khuzaa'h, Abu Karb Asa’d, in the early 5th century AD for Arabian Star Family worship.

Circumambulating Kaabas, kissing stone idols, and going on pilgrimages to religious sites were pagan rituals that preceded Mohammed by centuries. Besides that bequeathed to us through the actual historical record of Arabia, the Hadith indicates that Muslims went on Hajj right alongside the pagans, until the year before Mohammed's last Hajj, when the pagans were finally expelled from their own ritual.

In the year prior to the last Hajj of the Prophet when Allahs Apostle made Abu Bakr the leader of the pilgrims, the latter (Abu Bakr) sent me in the company of a group of people to make a public announcement: 'No pagan is allowed to perform Hajj after this year, and no naked person is allowed to perform Tawaf of the Kaba.'

On the Day of Nahr (10th of Dhul-Hijja, in the year prior to the last Hajj of the Prophet when Abu Bakr was the leader of the pilgrims in that Hajj) Abu Bakr sent me along with other announcers to Mina to make a public announcement: "No pagan is allowed to perform Hajj after this year and no naked person is allowed to perform the Tawaf around the Ka'ba. Then Allah's Apostle sent 'All to read out the Surat Bara'a (At-Tauba) to the people; so he made the announcement along with us on the day of Nahr in Mina: "No pagan is allowed to perform Hajj after this year and no naked person is allowed to perform the Tawaf around the Ka'ba."

The ritual of running between Safa and Marwa is called the "Sa'ee". As mentioned earlier Muslims are taught that this ritual has to do with Hagar and Ishmael. Besides the historical and geographical absurdity of that view, the pre-Islamic Umra was a ritual of the Arabian Jinn religion.

In Islam Jinn are recognized as devils or demons. The idols that were placed on the two stones Safa and Marwa were two statues of Asaf who was a male and Naelah who was female. They were the most venerated priests of the Arabian Jinn religion. Arabian mythology claims they committed fornication together inside the Kaabah and the gods transformed them into stone statues. Though the idols were removed by Islam, to this day Muslims still run between Safa and Marwa seven times, just as the pagans did.

Safa and Marwa are two hills close to where Abdel Mutaleb, the grandfather of Mohammed, dug the well of Zamzam and erected the statues of Asaf and Naelah as the deities of the well. As with so many of Mohammed's acquaintances and family members, his grandfather was very much into the Jinn religion and the occult.

Asem told us that he said to Uns bin Malek, a companion of Mohammed, “You were hating to encompass around the Safa and Marwa.” He answered, “Yes, because it was one of the pagan rites of Jahiliyah until Allah gave a verse that the Safa and Marwa are the rites of Allah. If one makes the Hajj to the Kaabah, he must encompass them. The person has no sin when he encompass them. (Sahih al-Bukhari, 2, page 171)

Perhaps the reason that Mohammed's "Allah gave a verse" continuing this pagan ritual, is because Mohammed wanted to appease the two lazy bandit tribes of Oas and Khazraj that he enlisted in Medina, who were most into the Jinn religion and whom Mohammed had used to attack his own tribe the Quraish, in the service of his "Allah". Their reward as with all the men that followed Mohammed was, of course, four-fifths of the stolen property, wives, and children of the vanquished, as "spoils of war - booty". That's the title of chapter 8 of the Quran that also details Mohammed's one-fifth share.

The Oas and Khazraj began their Umra Hajj by kissing copies of the statues which were placed on the shore opposite Mecca. They were to walk seven times between these two rocks, then return to Mecca to kiss the two statues of Asaf and Naelah.

Both the Hajj and Umra begin with ritual cleansing, or ablution, and include repetitive prayer. Muslims pray five times a day, and wash before doing so, because Mohammed claimed that is what he learned when he took an overnight trip on a flying animal to Jerusalem, heaven, and back to Mecca by morning.

Far more likely, however, is the fact that Mohammed and at least four of his relatives had been deeply involved in the second century occult cult of the Sabians. Mohammed even mentions Sabians right along with Christians in the Quran. No surprise to discover then, that the Sabians, prayed five times a day and performed ablution.

The cutting of the hair was practiced by some Arabian tribes after a pilgrimage to honor their gods. For example they conducted a pilgrimage to the idol of one of their gods - al-akyaser - where they cut their hair mixed it with flour and tossed it in the air. The same celebration was also observed by many pagan Yemeni tribes. Those same tribes emigrated from Yemen to the area around Medina and Mecca, after the collapse of the dam at Ma'rib in about 150 A.D. Thus cutting hair is still the ritual which ends the Hajj.

Stations of the pre-Islamic Hajj included Arafa, the place where they would stop to worship the sun, and Muzdalifah, where they would stop to worship the moon. Then the Hajj would conclude at Mina, called Muna, the place dedicated to Manat, where they cut their hair and presented their animal sacrifices. This same Hajj was transferred to Islam with the same rituals including the ritual of cutting the hair at Manat.

Ibn Hisham, who edited the oldest book on the life of Mohammed, says the statues of Asaf and Naelah were worshipped at the well of Zamzam including the sacrifice of animals to the statues there. This suggests that the well of Zamzam was dedicated, to the worship of the two priests of the Jinn represented by the statues, by Mohammed's grandfather Abdel Mutaleb. This can be concluded first because Abdel Mutaleb dug the well of Zamzam. Second because he worshipped the statues of the two Jinn priests. Indeed Abdel was so consumed by occult worship that he wanted to sacrifice one of his own sons to the two statues at Zamzam. That son was Abdullah, who became the father of Mohammed. When Abdel was close to killing Abdullah with his knife, Abdel's brother stepped in and rescued the boy.

Arabians would dig a well for each temple to which they went to sacrifice to the gods they worshipped to build Hajj around the statues of the gods. Among the ceremonies would be drinking water from the well which was dedicated to the deity.

After Abdel Mutaleb dug the well of Zamzam near Safa and Marwa visiting the well and drinking of its water became part of the small Hajj or Umra to honor the deities for which the Hajj was called in the first place, namely the devoted servants of the jinn, Asaf and Naelah.

On the second day of Hajj pilgrims depart for the hill Arafa, located east of Mecca. It takes more than four hours to reach this hill by camel. In the middle of the journey to Arafa, there is a place called Muna, currently known as Mina’, where they pray the prayer of noon time. Muna is an important place in the Hajj. Both the words Muna and Manat have the same Arabic meaning, “to wish or aspire.” Manat was the daughter of Allah. This indicates Muna was dedicated to the worship of Manat.

Manat, originally a planet, was represented by a rock on which sacrifices to the various gods were made during the Hajj ceremonies. According to many narrators, this was due to two factors. First, the word Mana means “to shed blood” suggesting to some narrators that the rock of Manat received its name because of all the sacrifices made on the rock of Manat. Second, because Manat means “wish or aspiration,” it was a place where many tribes came to present their animal sacrifices, which represented their own aspirations and pleading for rain.

On the third day of Hajj pilgrims continue to the hill called Arafa. They all wear white, indicating a state of consecration, according to tradition. They stand in a plain near a mount called “Jabal Al-Rahmah,” which means the “mountain of mercy,” and cry in loud voices from afternoon until sunset “Labeik Allahumma Labeik.” Allahumma means “Allah, are them,” so their cry is translated, “Allah are them, I am here.”

When the Hajj was transferred to Islam it presented the same religious words. When the pagans came to the hill dedicated to the worship of the moon they cried “Allah Akber” which means “Allah is greater.” This is because the moon, who was Allah, was viewed as head of the Star Family and was greater than the other members, Ellat, the sun, and Manat and al-'Uzza, two of the planets.

The cry “Allah is greater” is not an Islamic cry but, rather, a pagan cry which the worshippers of the Star Family used to recite. Pre-Islamic Arabian poetry often honored members of the Star Family by emphasizing Allah as the head of the Star Family by repeating the words “Allah Akber." For example, Loas Bin Hagar, the Arabian poet of the pre-Islam period, said:

But Satan is a spirit and does not have a material body to be injured by the stones. The Qur’an claims that meteorites were stars which Allah used to strike the devils. However, the casting of stones at the devil was a pagan ceremony practiced by various pagan sects in the Middle East. Casting the stones was a ritual initiated in Muna by the tribe of Sofa who led the ceremonies on the hill of Arafa. The tribe of Sofa did not allow anyone to walk from Arafa to the next Hajj station before all the tribe had thrown stones.

Zoroastrians also cast stones on the water and in bull’s urine, which were prepared for ablutions, and the purification of bodies and objects. Once they were cast, these stones, or pebbles, were deposited in holes in the ground, apparently to strike the insects and worms in the ground which were considered to be devils by the Zoroastrians.

The famous Arabian historian and geographer Al-Ya'akubi, of the 9th century, wrote about the life of Arabia before and after Islam. He recorded that another idol placed on the Safa was named Mujawer al-Rih', which in Arabic means “the shelter or place of sanctuary for the wind.” The wind at Mecca was considered as a Jinn-devil. This was recorded by many biographers of Mohammed who mentioned that he was visited by a priest of the Jinn-devils named Thamad al-Azdi who came to embrace Islam. The book of Halabieh recorded:

"The delegation of Thamad al-Azdi who came to Mohammed was reported by Ibn Abbas: 'Thamad came to Mecca and he was from Izd Shina’t, which is the name of his tribe, and he used to cast spells or conjure through the wind which was a devil of Jinn. He greeted Mohammed embracing Islam."

Arabian authors who wrote about Mecca before Islam, like al-Azruqi, mentioned the wind was worshipped at Mecca, and there was an idol there named Nahik who represented the wind that people used to make a pilgrimage to. The idol of the wind, was worshipped as part of a ritual for the worship of the Wind-devil, on the hills of Safa and Marwa.

Since the moon god was considered to be the most powerful deity in Arabian Star Family worship it would seem no coincidence that the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar. Muslims all over the world bow toward the black stone, that pagans venerated as the moon god idol, five times a day. Crescent moons adorn the tops of mosques and decorate national flags. "Fasting" is done during the month which begins and ends with the appearance of the crescent moon in the sky. Even the favorite shout of Mohammedan suicide murderers - ALLAHU AKBAR - means "Allah is the greatER", which for Arabian moon god worshipers meant that the moon god was the most powerful of all of the Arabian Star Family deities.

Will you continue to reject the 1600 year record of God to mankind, as revealed through all of the prophets and witnesses of that record that God's people have followed through two covenants for 3500 years, to instead continue to follow the 23 year 7th century record, of a single "prophet" that had no fulfilled prophecy, that never performed a single miracle, and that not a single person ever heard Gabriel or Allah's voice give a "revelation" to?

Considering the nature of Mohammed as revealed through Islam's own books, as well as the fruit of fundamentalists that try to emulate his appalling behavior, do you honestly believe that is the kind of man that God would send, to nullify His prior 1600 year record given through all of the prophets, apostles and witnesses? Would God send a man 500 years after His record was closed, that is revealed as being the exact opposite of Jesus Christ, to present a message that is the exact opposite of the Gospel? A man that led his largely illiterate followers in repackaged rituals of Arabian moon, sun, star, planet and demon worship?

'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: Allah's Messenger may peace be upon him) said to me: Had your people not been unbelievers in the recent past (had they not quite recently accepted Islam), I would have demolished the Ka'ba and would have rebuilt it on the foundation (laid) by Ibrahim; for when the Quraish had built the Ka'ba, they reduced its (area), and I would also have built (a door) in the rear.

When Mohammed credited the Quraish for building the Kaaba he even said he would have added a rear door. However the history of Arabia suggests that the Kaaba was built by the tribe of the Khuzaa'h from Yemen, who founded Mecca in the 4th century, and whose Himyarite leader Abu Karb Asa’d built the Kaaba in the early 5th century.

Both the Hajj and Umra include repetitive prayer, and ritual cleansing. Muslims pray five times a day, and wash before doing so, because Mohammed claimed that is what he was taught when he took an overnight trip on a flying animal to Jerusalem, heaven, and back to Mecca, by morning.

Far more likely is the fact that Mohammed and four of his relatives had been deeply involved in the second century occult cult of the Sabians. This cult had so much impact on Mohammed's daily life that some folks referred to Mohammed as "the Sabian". Mohammed mentions Sabians right along with Christians in the Quran. No surprise to discover then, that the Sabians prayed five times a day, and performed abluition.

Twaf, or circumambulating the Kaaba and kissing the black stone and Hajj in general, were pagan rituals that preceeded Mohammed. Besides the actual history of Arabia and worship of the Arabian Star Family, we find that Muslims performed Hajj right alongside the pagans, until the year before Mohammed's last Hajj, when the pagans were finally prohibited from attending the ritual they had developed.

On the Day of Nahr (10th of Dhul-Hijja, in the year prior to the last Hajj of the Prophet when Abu Bakr was the leader of the pilgrims in that Hajj) Abu Bakr sent me along with other announcers to Mina to make a public announcement: "No pagan is allowed to perform Hajj after this year and no naked person is allowed to perform the Tawaf around the Ka'ba. Then Allah's Apostle sent 'All to read out the Surat Bara'a (At-Tauba) to the people; so he made the announcement along with us on the day of Nahr in Mina: "No pagan is allowed to perform Hajj after this year and no naked person is allowed to perform the Tawaf around the Ka'ba."

The ritual of running between Safa and Marwa is called the "Sa'ee". As mentioned earlier, and discussed on the "Paran, Mecca, Ishmael & Hagar" video, Muslims are taught that this is about Hagar and Ishmael. Besides the geographical impossibility of that view pointed out earlier, the pre-Islamic Umra was a ritual of the Arabian Jinn religion that was devoted to the veneration of four idols, that were placed on four stones. In Islam Jinn are recognized as devils or demons.

The idols that were placed on the two stones that Muslims still run between while practicing the Sa'ee were two statues of Asaf and Naelah. They were the most venerated priests of the Jinn religion. Asaf was male and Naelah was female. Arabian mythology claims they committed fornication together in the Kaabah, and the gods transformed them into stone statues.

Safa and Marwa were located on two hills near Mecca, close to the place where Abdel Mutaleb, the grandfather of Mohammed, dug the well of Zamzam and erected the two statues of Asaf and Naelah as the deities of the well.

Marching around Safa and Marwa, was a ritual hated by most of Mohammed’s companions who even confessed that the Hajj to Safa and Marwa was a pagan rite from Jahiliyah, or the pre-Islam period. in Sahih Bukhari we read:

Asem told us that he said to Uns bin Malek, a companion of Mohammed, “You were hating to encompass around the Safa and Marwa.” He answered, “Yes, because it was one of the pagan rites of Jahiliyah until Allah gave a verse that the Safa and Marwa are the rites of Allah. If one makes the Hajj to the Kaabah, he must encompass them. The person has no sin when he encompass them. (Sahih al-Bukhari, 2, page 171)

It could be that the reason that Allah gave this verse, is because Mohammed wanted to be appease the two tribes who most practiced this Jinn religion, and whom Mohammed had talked into picking up the sword in the service of his Allah. Their reward was the property, women, and children of those that they vanqished, as "spoils of war - booty". (the title of chapter 8 of the Quran)

The tribes of Oas and Khazraj began their Umra Hajj by kissing copies of the statues which were placed on the shore opposite Mecca. They were to walk seven times between these two rocks, then return to Mecca to kiss the two statues of Asaf and Naelah.

"The cutting of the hair was a habit practiced by some Arabian tribes after a pilgrimage to honor their gods. One of their gods was an idol named al-akyaser. They conducted a pilgrimage to the idol where they cut their hair, mixed it with flour and threw it in the air. The same celebration was also observed by many pagan Yemeni tribes. Tribes which emigrated to Medina, and the area around Mecca, came from Yemen after the collapse of the dam at Ma'rib, about 150 A.D. This helps us understand why the cutting of hair was the ritual which ends the Hajj." (more)

"After they performed the Hajj to their gods, they would come to Manat, cut their hair and present their animal sacrifices. Stations of the pre-Islamic Hajj included Arafa, the place where they would stop to worship the sun, and Muzdalifah, where they would stop to worship the moon. Then the Hajj would conclude at Mina, called Muna, the place dedicated to Manat, where they cut their hair and presented their animal sacrifices. In Mohammed’s time, this same Hajj was transferred to Islam with the same rituals, including the ritual of cutting the hair at Manat. (more)

"Arabians used to dig a well for each temple to which they went to sacrifice to the gods they worshipped. This would build Hajj around the statues of the gods. Among the ceremonies, they drank water from the well which was dedicated to the deity. The worshippers in the Arabian Jinn religion erected two statues on the well of Zamzam in honor of the two statues they represented. Ibn Hisham, the first book narrating the life of Mohammed, mentions that the Arabians presented sacrifices to the statues of Asaf and Naelah, which were erected at the well of Zamzam." (more)

"The statues of Asaf and Naelah were placed on the well of Zamzam. Ibn Hisham, who edited the oldest book on the life of Mohammed, says these statues were worshipped at the well of Zamzam. He tells us the worshippers sacrificed their animals to the statues there. [v][5] This suggests to us that the well of Zamzam was dedicated to the worship of the two priests of the Jinn, which the statues represented. It was Abdel Mutaleb, the grandfather of Mohammed, who dedicated the well of Zamzam to the two venerated Jinn priests and their statues. We draw this conclusion for many reasons. First, Abdel Mutaleb dug the well of Zamzam.[vi][6] Second, Abdel Mutaleb was one of the worshippers of the statues of the two Jinn priests. He was so consumed by occult worship that he wanted to sacrifice one of his own sons at the feet of the two statues at Zamzam. That son was Abdullah, the father of Mohammed. When Abdel Mutaleb was at the point of killing Abdullah with his knife, Abdel Mutaleb's brother rescued the boy." (more)

"After Abdel Mutaleb, the grandfather of Mohammed, dug the well of Zamzam near Safa and Marwa, visiting the well and drinking of its water became part of the small Hajj called Umra'. We must, therefore, conclude that the well of Zamzam was dug explicitly to honor the deities for which the Hajj was called in the first place, namely to honor the Jinn and his famous and devoted servants, Asaf and Naelah." (more)

"On the second day, [of Hajj] the 8th of Du al-Hijjah, the pilgrims depart for the hill Arafa, located east of Mecca. It takes more than four hours to reach this hill by camel. In the middle of the journey to Arafa, there is a place called Muna, currently known as Mina’, where they pray the prayer of noon time. Muna is an important place in the Hajj. Both the words Muna and Manat have the same Arabic meaning, “to wish or aspire.” Manat was the daughter of Allah. This indicates Muna was dedicated to the worship of Manat." (more)

Manat, originally a planet, was represented by a rock on which sacrifices to the various gods were made during the Hajj ceremonies. According to many narrators, this was due to two factors connected with Manat. First, the word Mana means “to shed blood” suggesting to some narrators that the rock of Manat received its name because of all the sacrifices made on the rock of Manat.[xxxv][35] Second, because Manat means “wish or aspiration,” it was a place where many tribes came to present their animal sacrifices, which represented their own aspirations and pleading for rain.[xxxvi][36]" (more)

On the third day, [of Hajj] the 9th of Du al-Hajj, pilgrims continue to the hill called Arafa. They all wear white, showing they are in a state of consecration, according to tradition. They stand in a plain near a mount called the “Jabal Al-Rahmah,” which means the “mountain of mercy,” and they cry in loud voices from afternoon until sunset “Labeik Allahumma Labeik.” Allahumma means “Allah, are them,” so their cry is translated, “Allah are them, I am here.”

"We find that when the Hajj was transferred to Islam, it presented the same religious words. When they came to the hill dedicated to the worship of the moon, they cried “Allah Akber,” which means “Allah is greater.” This is because the moon, who was Allah was viewed as head of the Star Family and was greater than the other members, Ellat, the sun, and Manat and al-'Uzza, two of the planets. The cry “Allah is greater” is not an Islamic cry but, rather, a pagan cry which the worshippers of the Star Family used to say. Pre-Islamic Arabian poetry often honored members of the Star Family by emphasizing Allah as the head of the Star Family by repeating the words “Allah Akber." For example, Loas Bin Hagar, the Arabian poet of Jahiliyah, which was the pre-Islam period, said:

"Further, striking the devil with stones is an illogical myth because the devil is a spirit, not affected when material things are thrown at him. The devil does not have a material body to be injured by the stones. The same is true when stars are thrown at him. The Qur’an claims that meteorites were stars which Allah used to strike the devils. Rather, the casting of stones at the devil was a pagan ceremony practiced by various pagan sects in the Middle East.[lviii][60] Casting the stones was a ritual initiated in Muna by the tribe of Sofa who led the ceremonies on the hill of Arafa. The tribe of Sofa did not allow anyone to walk from Arafa to the next Hajj station before all the tribe had done so. No one was allowed to cast stones before they did."

"Zoroastrians also cast stones on the water and in bull’s urine. The water and urine were prepared for ablutions and the purification of bodies and objects. Once they were cast, these stones, or pebbles, were deposited in holes in the ground, evidently to strike the insects and worms in the ground which were considered devils by the Zoroastrians. We read about this ceremony in many chapters of the Epistles of Manuskihar, part of the Pahlavi Texts, traditional literature for the interpretation of the Avesta, which are the sacred writings of Zoroastrianism." (more)

"Al-Ya'akubi, the famous Arabian historian and geographer of the 9th century who wrote about the life of Arabia before and after Islam, records that two idols were placed over the Safa and Marwa. The idol placed on the Safa was named Mujawer al-Rih', which means in Arabic “the shelter or place of sanctuary for the wind.” The wind at Mecca was considered as a Jinn-devil. We know this from the writings of many people. Many biographers of the life of Mohammed mentioned that Mohammed was visited by a priest of the Jinn-devils who came to embrace Islam. The name of the priest was Thamad al-Azdi. The book of Halabieh says:

The delegation of Thamad al-Azdi who came to Mohammed was reported by Ibn Abbas: 'Thamad came to Mecca and he was from Izd Shina’t, which is the name of his tribe, and he used to cast spells or conjure through the wind which was a devil of Jinn. He greeted Mohammed embracing Islam.'"

"Arabian authors, such as al-Azruqi, who wrote about Mecca before Islam, mentioned the wind was worshipped at Mecca, and there was an idol there named Nahik who represented the wind. People used to make a pilgrimage to see this idol[xxxiv][34]. The idol of the wind on Safa was called “the shelter or place of sanctuary for the wind.” The idol of the wind was worshipped as part of a ritual for the worship of the Wind-devil on the hills of Safa and Marwa." (more)

In the year prior to the last Hajj of the Prophet when Allahs Apostle made Abu Bakr the leader of the pilgrims, the latter (Abu Bakr) sent me in the company of a group of people to make a public announcement: 'No pagan is allowed to perform Hajj after this year, and no naked person is allowed to perform Tawaf of the Kaba.' (See Hadith No. 365 Vol. 1) .

'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: Allah's Messenger may peace be upon him) said to me: Had your people not been unbelievers in the recent past (had they not quite recently accepted Islam), I would have demolished the Ka'ba and would have rebuilt it on the foundation (laid) by Ibrahim; for when the Quraish had built the Ka'ba, they reduced its (area), and I would also have built (a door) in the rear.