Human Sacrifices

HUMAN SACRIFICES. There is no trace in the Qur’an or Traditions of the immolation of human beings to the Deity as a religious rite. But M.C. de Percival (vol. ii, p. 101) mentions a Ghassanide prince who was sacrificed to Venus by Munzir, King of Hira. Infanticide was common in ancient Arabia, but it seems to have been done either, as amongst the Rajputs of India, from a feeling of disappointment at the birth of female children, or to avoid the expense and trouble of rearing them. The latter seems to have been the ordinary reason; for we read in the Qur’an, Surah xvii. 33: “Kill not your children for fear of poverty.” [INFANTICIDE.]

Based on Hughes, Dictionary of Islam