[cynwoody]

There was a tribe in the Arabian Peninsula who did worship an idol which they called “Allah” or “Allat”. Mohammed got rid of all the other idols and made his tribal god The “God” of the Arabic people. As far as I can tell in my studies, the idol is still there, it is the black stone they all try to touch while performing the Haj.

Al-Lat, the Islamic Moon Goddess

It's embedded in one cornerstone of the Kaaba, that black cube in Mecca they circle around. They are supposed to kiss it (hopefully without catching any STDs, LOL).

[wbarmy]

Just before the Iraq invasion, Saddam Hussein received permission to go on the Hajj, take cameramen, and film himself making the seven perambulations and touch the stone. The film is still available on youtube. The funny part is the glimpses of his Fedayeen pushing other people out of the way so that Saddam could do all this on film with no one around him. He was trying to build his cred as a devout Muslim so that other Muslims would help fight for him against us. It did seem to work, although it didn't help his personal situation at all.