Back-cover text:
What was the social setting of idol worship in pre-Islamic Arabia? Which tribes worshipped which idols, and what happened to those idols after the advent of Islam?
In The Book of Idols, Ibn al-Kalbi records accounts of these beliefs and practices. Written down 201 years after the Hijra, the work offers far more than a history of idols: it provides insights into the beliefs, folklore, mythology, and social life of pre-Islamic Arabs, as well as the place of poetry in their society. It is among the earliest Islamic sources devoted to the subject.
Mehmet Hakkı Suçin’s translation attends closely to the narrative and poetic qualities of the text.
The Arabic original is included alongside the translation.