He was a pagan. His tribe, the Qurayish, was from Mecca, and Mecca was an oasis on the old caravan trade route, where there was a cultic centre for the ancient gods. The Ka'aba was already in existencem used by pagan Arabs to house their numerous tribal gods. In 630 A.D., Muhammad and his followers took over leadership of Mecca after years of persecution. Muhammad destroyed the idols inside the Ka'aba and re-dedicated it as a house of monotheistic worship. These are the proto-Semetic deities, some of which may have been represented in the Ka'aba pantheon. *Ilu "god" (Supreme God: akk. Ilu, ug. il, phoin. ’l / Ä’los, hebr. Ä’l / Elohim, OSA. ’l ). The Arabic Name Allāh is al-ilah "The God". *Aṯiratu (Ilu's wife: ug. aṯrt, hebr. AšÄ“rāh'' OSA. ’ṯrt ). She is also called *Ilatu "goddess" (akk. Ilat, phoin. ’lt, Arab. Allāt ). Also related (linguistically) are *Ê»Aṯtaru (God of Fertility: ug. ʻṯtr, OSA ʻṯtr, eth. Ê»Astar ) and *Ê»Aṯtartu (Goddess of Fertility: akk. Ištar, ug. ʻṯtrt, phoin. Ê»štrt / Astarte hebr. Ê»Aštoreṯ ). The meaning of the names are unknown. *Haddu / *Hadadu (Storm God: akk. Adad, ug. hd, phoin. Adodos ). The meaning of the name is probably “thunderer”. This god is also known as *BaÊ»lu "man, husband, lord" (akk. Bel, ug. bÊ»l, phoin. bÊ»l / Belos, hbr. Ba'al ). *Åšamšu "sun" (Sun goddess: ug. špš, OSA: šmš, but akk. Šamaš is a male god). *Wariḫu "moon" (Moon god: ug. yrḫ, hebr. YārÄ“aḥ, OSA. wrḫ ). =========== Definitely there was Hubal, chief of the Meccan gods. He MAY have been a moon god, indicated by documents from nearby countries. As an infant, Muhammad was brought before Hubal by his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, at-Tabari records in The History of the Prophets and Kings 1:157 Three principal goddesses in the pantheon were "Al-Lat"(who was also the tribal god of the Thaqeef )Al-Uzza (a Quraiyish goddess) and Al-manat, often called the "Daughters of Allah" (Allah being a general name for God). they are mentioned in the Quran,"Have you then considered Lat and Uzza, and the third, Manat? Are the males for you and for Him the females" (53:19-21). These "daughters of Allah" form the basis of the "Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie.In the words by the famous Muslim historian, al-Tabari: When the Messenger of God saw how his tribe turned their backs on him and was grieved to see them shunning the message he had brought to them from God, he longed in his soul that something would come to him from God which would reconcile him with his tribe. With his love for his tribe and his eagerness for their welfare it would have delighted him if some of the difficulties which they made for him could have been smoothed out, and he debated with himself and fervently desired such an outcome. Then God revealed: "By the Star when it sets...", and when he came to the words: "Have you considered El-Lat and El-'Uzza and Manat the third, the other?", Satan cast onto his tongue, because of his inner debates, and what he desired to bring to his people, the words, "Those are the high-flying cranes; verily their intercession is accepted with approval"... Then Gabriel came to the Messenger of God and said, "Muhammad, what have you done? You have recited to the people that which I did not bring you from God, and you have said that which was not said to you." Then the Messenger of God was much greived and feared God greatly, but God sent down a revelation to him (Qur'an 22:52), for He was merciful to him... (The History of al-Tabari, translated by W. M. Watt and M. V. McDonald, vol. 6, page 108, 109) This is a source of debate in the Muslim world. ============= The pic below is probably of Hubal. Note the crescent shape on his chest.

Mohammed was born into the tribe which acted as custodian of the Kaaba, a shrine of Mecca. He followed the rules for meditation of his tribe. As a boy he had plenty of opportunity to observe pilgrims and teachers-Jews and Christians among them. Mohammed developed a distaste for the worship of idols of the desert Arab. One day the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mohammed in a vision. Mohammed reacted with what are believed to be the earliest verses of the Koran. He believed he had been chosen to be a profit of Allah, the true and only God. His death in 632 did not halt the growth of the new faith.

He was a Hanif. The Hanifs were much like the Deists or Agnostics of those times. They believed that the true religion of Ishael (p) and his father Abraham (p) were lost, but that it didn't involve worshiping idols. They were generally good-spirited people that believed in One Almighty God, and that worship belonged to only Him. However, I wouldn't consider being a Hanif an actual religion, it was more of a simple belief or philosophy that had no ground in anything in their society, no central scripture (if any scripture at all), and they did not congregate or have a worship-place. So it was more of a personal philosophy.

1) According to this reference, Abd al-Muttalib, grandfather of Muhammad, was a polytheist: "In time Abd al-Muttalib succeeded to the office of providing food and water to the pilgrims; this office at that time lacked the power and influence that it enjoyed in earlier times; and coupled with the fact that he had only one son, Abd al-Muttalib found it difficult to counter the factional friction that was ever present. It was at this time that Abd al-Muttalib found the well of Zam Zam that the Jurum tribe had filled up when they were forced out by the Khozaa tribe in the 3rd century AD, about 300 years before the time of Abd al-Muttalib. The discovery of this well changed his fortunes. He became the father of many sons and his fortunes grew until he was regarded as the virtual chief of Mecca. A promise that he had made to his deities began to take precedence at the back of his mind: he had promised that if the deities gave him ten sons he would sacrifice one son to them. He decided to choose the son by drawing lots. The lot fell on his son Abdullah. He tried to seek a compromise by offering the sacrifice of ten camels instead of Abdullah. But the lot again fell on Abdullah; Abd al-Muttalib kept increasing the number of camels by ten until it finally reached to one hundred. Now the lot fell on the camels and Abdullah was spared. In any case the life of Abdullah was short lived. After getting married to a woman called Amina, he went for a commercial enterprise to Gaza; his wife at time was pregnant. Abdullah died on that journey, a few months later his widow gave birth to a son. The name of that son was Muhammad, the prophet of Islam." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quraysh 2) "At the time of Muhammad (570-632 AD), his tribe the Quraysh was in charge of the Kaaba, which was at that time a shrine to numerous Arabian tribal gods. Muhammad earned the enmity of his tribe by claiming their shrine for the religion of Islam that he preached. He wanted the Kaaba to be dedicated to the worship of God alone, and all the other statues evicted. The Quraysh persecuted and harassed him continuously, and he and his followers eventually migrated to Medina in 622." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaba 3) "There were some people in the Arabian Gulf who followed the monotheistic religion of Ibrahim (a.s.) (Deen-e-Hanifiah=the upright religion). The best among them were the legatees of Ibrahim (a.s.) and Ismail (a.s.), like Hashim, Abdul Muttalib, Abu Talib and Abdullah the father of Prophet (s.a.w.s.). The well-known words of Abdul Muttalib are clear as regards his belief, when the forces of Abraha surrounded the Holy Ka’aba. It proves that he was on the upright faith." Source and further information: http://www.oneummah.net/understand/abu_talib.htm 4) "Muhammad was born in Mecca in 570, and thus Islam has been inextricably linked with Mecca ever since. Muhammad was born in a minor faction, the Hashemites, of the ruling Quraysh tribe. Islamic tradition states that he began receiving divine revelations here in 610 AD, and began to preach monotheism against Meccan paganism. After enduring persecution for 13 years, Muhammad emigrated (see Hijra) in 622 with his followers to Medina. The conflict between the Quraysh and the Muslims, however, continued" Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecca

evidence has been found that his tribe had a practise of meditation and yoga. they also worshiped some idol. By this we come to know he belonged some ancient religion, most probably hinduism.

He was a Jew

He was a monotheist like his great uncle Abraham. It's a myth he was "pagan" or "agnostic" or any other baseless nonsense dullards come up with. We know this from his early accounts from his own family and his relatives.