Why should a mosque be built at the place where idols were placed since it seemed to be idolatry?

Submitted by Mahendra Mathur (Trinidad And Tobago), Jul 17, 2017 at 16:50

Zuma's above question has been sent to me for comments and here they are:
This has been the Islamic tradition from the beginning.
Prior to the spread of Islam throughout the Arabian Peninsula, the Kaaba was a holy site for the various Bedouin tribes of the area. Once every lunar year, the Bedouin tribes would make a pilgrimage to Mecca. Setting aside any tribal feuds, they would worship their pagan gods in the Kaaba and trade with each other in the city. Islam would later adopt the established traditions of the Bedouin tribes, such as encouragement of trade during the Hajj, but replacing the worship of their pagan gods with Allah.
Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia was a mix of polytheism, Christianity, Judaism, and Iranian religions. Arab polytheism, the dominant belief system, was based on the belief in deities and other supernatural beings such as djinn. Gods and goddesses were worshipped at local shrines, such as the Kaaba in Mecca. The Kaaba was dedicated to Hubal and also contained the images of the three chief goddesses Al-lāt, Al-'Uzzá and Manāt. Many of the physical descriptions of the pre-Islamic gods are traced to idols, especially near the Kaaba, which is believed to have contained up to 360 of them.
At the culmination of his mission, in 629 CE, Muhammad conquered Mecca with a Muslim army.His first action was to remove statues and images from the Kaaba. According to reports collected by Ibn Ishaq and al-Azraqi, Muhammad spared a painting of Mary and Jesus, and a fresco of Abraham; but according to Ibn Hisham all pictures were erased. And Kaabe became the holiest place for Muslims.
Muslims have continued this tradition of converting churches and temples to mosques since then with great zeal.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".