Religious Practices and the Fragmentation of Beliefs in Pre-Islamic Makkah

Ihsan Khoirul Anam (UIN Raden Mas Said Surakarta)
Muhammad Aszif Amalia (UIN Raden Mas Said Surakarta)
Diah Novita Fardani (UIN Raden Mas Said Surakarta)

Madani: Multidisciplinary Scientific Journal
Vol 4, No 9 (2026): October 2026

Understanding the historical background of pre-Islamic Makkah is essential for examining the emergence of Islam. However, studies of its socio-economic conditions, beliefs, and rituals have tended to examine these aspects separately. This study aims to explain the role of the Kaaba in the social, economic, and religious life of pre-Islamic Makkah in an integrated manner. The study employs a literature review with a historical approach, using the Qur’an as a contemporaneous source and sirah literature and modern scholarship as supporting sources. The findings indicate that the Kaaba served a dual function: as a sacred house inherited from Abraham and as a site of idol worship that sustained the interests of the Quraysh elite. Idol worship constituted shirk (associating partners with God) through intermediaries rather than a rejection of God’s existence, and it contributed to the fragmentation of beliefs among tribes and religious communities. Rituals associated with the Kaaba were not abolished but purified of shirk and status-based discrimination. Social inequality and moral crises shaped the context in which the Islamic message gained acceptance, although they were not the sole causes. Islam emerged as a comprehensive transformation encompassing the purification of faith, the renewal of rituals, and social reform.