ABSTRACT
An unmistakable predominance of religious ideas and in comparison the failure to find any religious sentiment amongst the northern Arabs appears even more startling. The rare traces of religious sentiment can presumably not be dissociated from the influence of the south on the north. At such points the fundamental difference between Muhammed's din and the Arabic muruwwa becomes evident. There was such freedom in their sexual life that they were reluctant to relinquish it on the command of Muhammed whose authority was not sacred to them. The authority of the din was a revelation of God and that of the old Arabic muruwwa the old traditions founded on ancestral custom. The practices which Muhammed required of true believers were also contrary to Arab thinking; and of all the ceremonies and rites of the din none encountered more resistance than the rite of prayer.
