The Arabs were, in the highest degree, aristocratic, proud, independent and courageous. Their generosity towards their guests was exemplified in a refined manner that has never been surpassed; and, among them, a certain Hatim Tay may be looked upon as the Prince of Generous Hosts. By their natural gifts of eloquence and poetry, they can bear comparison with the most brilliant orators or magnificent poets of the universe. Their poetry, above all, allowing them to celebrate heroic exploits; and their open-minded generosity by which they were led to sing love's joy and sadness, became, for such hot-blooded men, the object of passionate adoration, marvellously well served by the most enchanting language ever known. Their public fairs, particularly that held at Okaz, furnished an opportunity for real poetical contests, where the winner heard his poem applauded by a madly delighted throng, and then it was written out fully in letters of gold, and hung up in the Temple of the Ka'bah. Of these poetical triumphs, called "Al-Muaalaquate," ("The Suspended"), seven have been handed down to us and prove what great heights were attained by the genius of the Bedouin primitive poets. But, at the same time as we admire such brilliant qualities innate in the Arabs, we have to deplore great errors. The monotheistic religion of their great ancestor Ibrahim (Abraham) was entirely forgotten, despite their continued veneration for the Temple built with their own hands. They had become "Mushrikun," ("Associates"). To Allah, the Only One, partners were adjoined in the shape of idols, who were generally preferred. Every tribe and family possessed a favourite idol; and, at that epoch, three hundred and sixty false gods, of wood or stone, dishonoured the Holy Ka'bah. The most gross superstition flourished in addition to idolatry. Games of chance, divining by arrows, drunkenness and sorcery debased the brains of these men, all otherwise remarkably gifted. Fretting under all restraint, lacking all ideas of decency, they married as many women as they could afford to feed; and as widows were considered to belong to their husbands' estate, revolting unions took place between stepmothers and stepsons. Still more abominable was the custom of the "Wa'du'l-Binat," (Burying Girls Alive). By some strange morbid decay of the feeling of honour, and also through fear that the debauchery of daughters or their capture by an enemy might one day bring opprobrium on their families, many unnatural fathers preferred to get rid of their female offspring, by burying them alive as soon as they were born. To sum up: the Arabs' leaning towards ostentation, their aristocratic prejudice and overweening pride, caused them to rebel against all discipline or authority. Consequently, union and progress becoming impossible, incessant warfare and pitiless vendettas between tribes and families submerged all Arabia in a sea of blood.