Dhul-Khalasa ( ') was a god or temple of

pre-Islamic Arabia Pre-Islamic Arabia is the Arabian Peninsula and its northern extension in the Syrian Desert before the rise of Islam. This is consistent with how contemporaries used the term ''Arabia'' or where they said Arabs lived, which was not limited to the ...

, associated with he worship of the tribe of

Banu Daws The Banu Daws () was one of the clan of Arabia during Muhammad's era. Located south of Mecca, it is a branch of the Zahran tribe, among its leaders Tufayl ibn Amr, one of Muhammad's companions. Abu Hurairah also hails from the Daws tribe. Ther ...

. This cult is only attested in Islamic sources, especially

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

and in the

Book of Idols The ''Book of Idols'' ('), written by the Arab scholar Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (737–819), is the most popular Islamic work about the religion in pre-Islamic Arabia. Arabian religion before Muhammad is described as polytheistic and idolatrous. Ibn a ...

Hisham ibn al-Kalbi Hishām ibn al-Kalbī (), 737 – 819 CE / 204 AH, also known as Ibn al-Kalbi (), was an Arab historian. His full name was Abu al-Mundhir Hisham ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sa'ib ibn Bishr al-Kalbi. Born in Kufa, he spent much of his life in Baghdad. L ...

. In some sources, Dhul Khalasa appears as the name of a god. According to other sources, the god was called al-Khalasa, whereas Dhul Khalasa was the name of the building or temple that this idol is associated with. A third interpretation in Islamic sources is that al-Khalasa is the name of the people who worshiped at the Dhul Khalasa temple. Islamic tradition described the temple as one of the several non-Meccan

Kaabas Ka'abas also spelt Ka'bas (Arabic: الكعبات) are the plural term used to describe houses of worship mainly located in the Arabian Peninsula that are cubic in shape and resemble the Kaaba structure from Mecca. They are mainly dedicated to vari ...

at the time. It was called the "Southern Kaaba" (''al-kaʿba al-yamaniyya'') to distinguish it from the

Kaaba The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

(''al-kaʿba al-shāmiyya''). According to Islamic tradition, the temple of Dhul Khalasa was demolished in April and May 632 CE, in 10 AH of the

Islamic calendar The Hijri calendar (), also known in English as the Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the Ramad ...

. The demolition was carried out by on the order of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, leaving the shrine in ruins.

Islamic primary sources

From classical sources there is an association between the god with divination and fertility.

Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi Hishām ibn al-Kalbī (), 737 – 819 CE / 204 AH, also known as Ibn al-Kalbi (), was an Arab historian. His full name was Abu al-Mundhir Hisham ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sa'ib ibn Bishr al-Kalbi. Born in Kufa, he spent much of his life in Baghdad. L ...

quotes from a certain man: “O Dhul-Khalasa, were the one wronged, your father the one murdered and buried, you would not have forbidden the killing of the enemy.” This incident is usually ascribed to

Imru' al-Qais Imruʾ al-Qais Junduh bin Hujr al-Kindi () was a pre-Islamic Arabian poet from Najd in the late fifth and early sixth centuries, and the last King of Kinda. He is sometimes considered the father of Arabic poetry. His qaṣīda, or long poe ...

, when shuffling divination arrows before the idol, gave negative results for pursuing the vengeance of his father's death. records the following in a report about the signs of the end-times: "Abu Hurairah said, I heard the Prophet say, The Hour will not come until the buttocks of the women of Daws are set in motion while going around Dhul-Khalasa. Dhul-Khalasa was an idol worshiped by the tribe of

Daws Daws may refer to: *Daws (name) *Daws Heath, woodland in Essex, England *Daws Road, Adelaide, Australia *Banu Daws, one of the tribes of Arabia during Muhammad's era See also * * Daw (disambiguation) * Dawes (disambiguation) * RAF Daws Hill, a ...

during the

Jahiliyyah In Islamic salvation history, the ''Jāhiliyyah'' (Age of Ignorance) is an era of pre-Islamic Arabia as a whole or only of the Hejaz leading up to the lifetime of Muhammad. The Arabic expression (meaning literally “the age or condition of i ...

Demolition of the temple of Dhul Khalasa

The Muslim historian

, mentions this event as follows: The incident is also referenced in the

Sahih Bukhari () is the first hadith collection of the Six Books of Sunni Islam. Compiled by Islamic scholar al-Bukhari () in the format, the work is valued by Sunni Muslims, alongside , as the most authentic after the Qur'an. Al-Bukhari organized the bo ...

hadith collection: The event is also mentioned in , and .

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Demolition Of Dhul Khalasa Campaigns ordered by Muhammad 632 630s conflicts Arabian gods Oracular gods Destroyed temples Persecution of Pagans Persecution by Muslims