1. Which of the following is an accurate description of Mecca before the introduction of Islam? A. Learned men gathered there to debate the doctrines of Zoroastrianism and Judaism. B. The Roman and Ptolemaic empires had already influenced the city and its surrounding region. C. Mecca was a kind of paradise, with flowing rivers, lush grasses, and bountiful fruit trees. D. Mecca contained a revered sanctuary where polytheistic Meccans worshipped.

Before the introduction of Islam, Mecca was a place in which the people that lived there were polytheistic. In this place there was an ancient sacred stone, a very large black stone, which was revered by the locals as a place where they can communicate with the gods and pray to them. The origin of the Black Stone are not known, and there's lot of suggestions that is a piece of an asteroid or meteorite that has been crafted by the ancient people. Even after the Islam was introduced, the Black Stone remained sacred, and nowadays it is one of the most sacred places in this religion. It comes little weird because the Islam is a religion well known for its intolerance of other religions, and considering that this stone was sacred for a previous polytheistic religion and has became one of the central places of Islam is very unusual.