ʿAmr ibn Luḥayy

Amr ibn Luhayy, chief of Khuza'a, whom The Sealed Nectar presents as the one through whom polytheism entered the Arabs. He came from Syria with Hubal and placed it inside the Kaaba. He called the people of Mecca to associate partners with God, and they answered him. He devised most of the rites of idol worship, and he was the first to let the sawa'ib (free-roaming camels) loose ^{1 2 3 4 5}.

He had grown up in great goodness, charity and zeal for matters of religion. People loved him and deferred to him, thinking him one of the great scholars and most virtuous saints ^{1 4}.

He travelled to Syria and saw the people worshipping idols. He found this good and considered it true, since Syria was the home of the messengers and the scriptures. He brought Hubal back with him, placed it inside the Kaaba, and called the people of Mecca to associate partners with God, and they answered him. Soon the people of the Hijaz followed the people of Mecca, because they were the custodians of the House and the people of the Sacred Precinct ^{1 4}.

It is said that Amr ibn Luhayy had a jinn companion who told him that the idols of Noah's people, Wadd, Suwa', Yaghuth, Ya'uq and Nasr, were buried at Jeddah. He went there, dug them up and carried them to Tihama. When the pilgrimage came, he gave them to the tribes, and they took them back to their homelands ^{1 6}.

The people of the Jahiliyya had traditions and rites of idol worship, most of which Amr ibn Luhayy devised. They thought what he had introduced a good innovation, not a change to the religion of Abraham ². Its details are in idol worship in the Jahiliyya. In a sound hadith traced to the Prophet ﷺ, Amr ibn Luhayy was the first to let the sawa'ib loose ^{3 5}; see the bahira, sa'iba, wasila and ham.

In Bukhari's report from Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him), the Prophet said that he saw Amr ibn Amir al-Khuza'i dragging his entrails in the Fire, and that he was the first to let the sawa'ib loose ⁵.

The report in Bukhari about the people of al-Balqa', and the origin of Hubal from Hit according to al-Azraqi, are recorded in this entry's data. The lineage and date of Amr ibn Luhayy, as the genealogists give them, have not yet been added.