As late as the fifteenth century, we find that R. Simeon ben Zemah Duran (''Tashbez'') ruled that Islam itself was not idolatrous.<ref>She'elot u-Teshuvot Tashbez, vol. 2, no. 48.</ref> but he also ruled that a shohet to was not permitted to slaughter animals while facing Mecca.<ref>Ibid., vol. 3, no. 133.</ref> because he regarded the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca as being of an idolatrous nature.<ref>Keshet u-Magen (Jerusalem, 1970), p. 19b.</ref> Of course, there is a difference between the view of the ''Tashbez'' and R. Nissim quoted above. Where the ''Tashbez'' was concerned with the remnants of the pre-Islamic period, R. Nissim's objection appears to be directed at what he considered to be pure Islam, not including any pre-Islamic pagan remnants.
