Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

38 The Life of Muhammad
of 'Amra d. 'Abdu'l-Rahman b. Sa'd b. Zurara that she said, 'I heard
~A.'isha say, "We always' heard that Isaf and Na'ila were a man and a
woman of Jurham who copulated in the Ka'ba so God transformed them
into two stones." But God alone knows if this is the truth.'
Abu Talib said:
Where the pilgrims make their camels kneel
Where the waters flow from Isa'f and Na'ila. I
Every household had an idol in their house which they used to worship.
When a man was about to set out on a journey he would rub himself
against it as he was about to ride off: indeed that was the last thing he used
to do before his journey; and when he returned from his journey the first
thing he did was to rub himself against it before he went in to his family.
When God sent Muhammad with the message of monotheism Quraysh
said: 'Would he make the gods into one God? That is indeed a strange
proceeding!' .
Now along with the Ka'ba the Arabs had adopted Tawaghit, whIch were
temples which they venerated as they venerated the Ka'ba. They had their
guardians and overseers and they used to make offerings to- them as they
55 did to the Ka