Jamaat-e-Qasimia Ferozia Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan (Trust)

Islamic Literature


Misconceptions

Is the Pilgrimage a Pagan Rite?

Some non-Muslims think or are made to believe that the pilgrimage to Ka'bah is purely a pagan rite or one form of idol-worship, that it was being practiced by the Arab idolaters before Islam and that Islam borrowed it from them.
This assumption is further aided by the fact that the Ka'bah itself had been a temple housing no less than three hundred and sixty idols. Nevertheless, this is a pure conjecture belying facts and figures. For it was not the idolaters of Makkah, but Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham - 'alaihi assalam), who had initiated and established the holy pilgrimage thereof ages ago.
On the contrary, it was these very idolaters, the degenerate descendants of Abraham and Ishmael ('alaihima assalam) who had defiled Allah's Holy Ka'bah into a huge pantheon. It was these rank idolaters who had injected pagan rites into the purely Islamic pilgrimage laid down by Prophet Abraham (AS), one of the greatest worshippers of Allah.
All honor is due to Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam), the seal of the prophets and the last of Ibrahim's Line of Prophethood, who first swept clean the Holy Ka'bah from its heathen idols. It was he again who restored the original pilgrimage to its pristine purity.

The Muslims are, in fact, the true followers of the Religion of Prophet Ibrahim (AS), the grandfather of The Holy Prophet (PBUH) (SAWS), where pilgrimage to Makkah is a notable heritage as well as an important fixture of the religion. How different could these facts be from the Non-Muslims' random conjecture?