Watani: Chief Goddess in North Arabia

Assalamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

The gods and goddesses in Arabia during the Age of Ignorance was of various origin. Some of them were from the Assyrians, some from Mesopotamia and some from the Levant. The Arabs were surrounded by these nations.

Chief Goddesses in Mecca

al-Lāt 

This goddesses is mentioned in Quran (Surah al-Najm 53:19-23) which shows that the Arabs of the Age of Ignorance considered her as one of the daughters of the God the Highest along with two other goddesses. The shrine and temple dedicated to her was in Taif. It was demolished by Abu Sufyan bin Harb on the orders of noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w during an expedition in the same year as the Battle of Tabuk (630 AD).

In older sources, this goddess is the cognate of a Mesopotamian goddess of the underworld known as Ereshkigal. She was reportedly also venerated in Carthage under the name al-Latu. The goddess occurs in early Safaitic graffiti and the Nabateans of Petra and the people of Hatra also worshiped her, equating her with the Greek, Athena and Tyche and the Roman's Minerva. Minerva is equated to Sarawati of the Hindus in South Asia but Saraswati is the goddess representing the śakti of the knowledge and art. She is frequently called "the Great Goddess" in Greek as carved in the multi-lingual inscriptions.    

Wellhausen mentions that, the Nabateans believed the goddess al-Lāt was the mother of god Hubal and so is the mother-in-law of goddess Manāt. 

The Greek historian, Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BC, considered her the equivalent of Aphrodite:

"The Assyrians call Aphrodite as Mylitta, the Arabians, al-Ilat, and the Persians, Mitra. In addition, the deity is associated with the Indian deity, Mitra".

The Persian and Indian deity were developed from the proto-Indo-Iranian deity known as the Mitra. According to Herodotus, the ancient North Arabians believed in only two gods:

"They believe in no other gods except Dionysus and the heavenly Aphrodite; and they say that they wear their hair as Dionysus does his, cutting it round the head and shaving the temples. They call Dionysus, Orotalt; and Aphrodite, al-Ilat".

There is also archeological evidence from Iram shows copious inscriptions devoted to this goddess for the protection of a certain tribe by that name (Surah al-Fajr 89:5-8).

This goddess is also explicitly attested from early records discussing the period of ignorance. According to the Kitāb al-Aṣnām by Hishām bin al-Kalbi, most of the Arabs during the Ignorance Age believed this goddess resided in the Cubicle Shrine in Mecca and also had an idol dedicated for her inside the holy sanctuary:

"Her custody was in the hands of the Banū Attāb bin Mālik of the Taqif, who had built an edifice over her. Most of the Quraish, as well as all the Arabs, venerated this goddess. They also used to name their children after her, calling them Zayd al-Lāt or Taym al-Lāt... Al-Lat continued to be venerated until the people in Taqif embraced Islam, when noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w dispatched al-Mughīrah bin Shu'bah, who destroyed the temple and burnt the idol to the ground" 

Manāt 

The goddess of fate and she was known with a cognate name as Manawat of the Nabateans of Petra who equated her with the Greco-Roman goddess, Nemesis. She was considered the wife of god Hubal. By the way, Nabateans were Northern Arab Bedouins who inhabited some areas in Jordan, Syria, Israel and Southwest of Arabia. I guess I kept their tribal identification with me but it is lost. 

Grunebaum in his Classical Islam says, the Arabic name of Manat is the linguistic counterpart of the Hellenistic Tyche, Dahr, the fateful "Time" who snatches men away and robs their existence of purpose and value. There are also connections with Chronos of Mithraism and Zurvan in Eastern religions.  

The Kitab al-Asnam describes the goddess worshiped by the pagan Arabs...

"The most ancient of all these idols was Manat. The Arabs used to name their children Abd Manat and Zayd Manat. Manat was erected on the seashore in the vicinity of al-Mushallal in Qudayd, between Medina and Mecca. All the Arabs used to venerate her and sacrifice before "her". The Aws and the Khazraj as well as those among the people of Yatrib and other places who took their way of life, would go for pilgrimage and observe vigil at all the appointed places but they did not shave their heads. At the end of pilgrimage, however, when they were about to return home, they would set out to the place where the idol of goddess Manat stood, shave their heads, and stay there a while. They did not consider their pilgrimage completed until they visited the goddess". - Kitab al-Asnam, pp. 12-14.

The ruling tribes of Yatrib, and other Arabs, continued to worship goddess Manat until the time of Muhammad s.a.w. The temple of this particular goddess in al-Mushallal was raided and the idol was destroyed in the Raid of Sa'd bin Zaid al-Ashhali, January 630 AD (Ramadan of 8th H).

Al-'Uzza

She was also worshiped by the Nabateans who equated her to Greek goddess Aphrodite Ourania or Venus Calestis. 

As stone cube at aṭ-Ṭā’if near Mecca was held sacred as part of her cult. She is mentioned in the Quran together with other two goddess worshiped by the pagans. She was called for protection along with god Hubal by some Quraish Arabs who commit polytheism with other Arabian tribes.

In 624 AD at the Battle of Uhud, the war of cry of the Quraish Arabs was, "O people of al-'Uzzā, people of Hubal!" Al-'Uzza also later appears in Ibn Ishaq's account of the Satanic Verses. 

In the Nabatean region, the first known mention about this particular goddess is from the inscriptions of Dedan, the capital of the Lihyanite kingdom in the 4th or 3rd century BC. She had been adopted alongside Dushara as the presiding goddess at Petra, the Nabatean capital, where she was assimilated with Isis, Tyche, and Aphrodite attributes and superseded her sisters. During the 5th century, Christianity became the prominent religion there following the conquest of Barsauma, the Metropolitan of Nisibis from the Church of Persia.

Inscriptions related to al-'Uzza among the Nabateans at Petra have been interpreted to associate al-'Uzza with the planet Venus. According to the Kitab al-Asnam by Hisham bin al-Kalbi (N.A. Faris, 1952; 16-23):

Over her (an Arab) built a house known as Bus in which the people used to receive oracular communications. The Arabs as well as the Quraish polytheists would name their children as Abd al-'Uzza. Furthermore, it was perceived as a patron deity for the Quraish. They used to make pilgrimage for her, offer gifts to the temple for her, and seek her favors through sacrifice.

The polytheist Quraish would circumambulate the Cubicle Shrine and say, "By al-Lāt and al-'Uzza, and al-Manāt, the third idol besides. Verily they are al-gharānīq whose intercession to be sought".

This last phrase is said to be the source of the alleged Satanic Verses; the Arabic term is translated as "most exalted females" by Faris in the text, but he annotates this much-argued term in a footnote as "lit. Numidean cranes".

The Kitāb al-Aṣnām offers additional detail on the "three exalted cranes" Ibn Isḥaq says were omitted from the Qur'an, "These were also called "the daughter of the God the Highest" and were supposed to intercede before Him". Each of the goddesses had a separate shrine for them near Mecca. The most prominent Arabian shrine of this particular goddess was at a place known as Nakhlah near Qudayd, east of Mecca toward aṭ-Ṭā'if; three trees were sacred to her there (narration through al-'Anazi Abū 'Alī in the Kitab al-Aṣnām):

"She was the Lady 'Uzzayan to whom a South Arabian offered a golden image on behalf of his sick daughter, Amat-'Uzzayan (the Maid of Uzzayan)".

Abd al-'Uzza or the slave of the mightiest one was a favorite proper name among the pagans during the advent of Islam (Hitti, 1937). The name al-'Uzza appears as an emblem of beauty in late pagan Arabic poetry quoted by Ibn al-Kalbi, and oaths were sworn by her name.  

The worship toward this goddess in South Arabia has been thoroughly effaced by time but her presence has not been obliterated far north at Petra of the Nabateans, who had deities with Arabian names early in their history, whom they later associated with Hellenistic gods, al-'Uzza becoming associated with Isis and with Aphrodite.

Excavations at Petra since 1974 have revealed a temple apparently dedicated to Isis or al-'Uzza, now named after some carvings found inside, the Temple of the Winged Lions (Hammond). Inscriptions record the name of this goddess at Petra. Isis was an ancient Egyptian goddess worshiped by slaves, sinners, artisans, the downtrodden and also a patron goddess for maidens, the wealthy, aristocrats and rulers. The worship to this particular goddess became prominent in Greco-Roman empire and areas closer to the empire.

A fragment of poetry by Zatd bin 'Amr bin Nofayl quoted in Kitab al-Asnam suggests that al-'Uzza had two daughters through the phrase, "No more do I worship al-'Uzza and her two daughters".

Muhammad Mohar Ali writes (2002), "The Arabs had developed a number of subsidiary Ka'bat (tawaget) at different places in the land, each with its presiding god or goddess. They used to visit those shrines at appointed times, circumambulate them and make sacrifices of animals there, besides performing other polytheistic rites. The most prominent shrines were those of al-Lat at Ta'if, al-'Uzza at Nakhlah and al-Manat near Qudayd. The origins of these idols are uncertain. Ibn Kalbi says that al-Lat was "younger" (ahdat) than al-Manawat, while al-'Uzza was "younger" than both al-Lat and al-Manawat. But though al-'Uzza was thus youngest of the three; it was nonetheless the most important and the greatest ('azam) idol with some of those pagan Quraish who, along with the Banū Kinānah, ministered to it".

On the authority of Abdullah bin 'Abbas, al-Tabari derived the word al-'Uzza from al-'Azīz or "The Most Honored" and it is one of the 99 glorious Names of the God the Highest in his commentary on the Quran Surah al-A'araf, "And to the God the Highest belong the best names, so invoke Him by them! But leave (the company of) those who practice deviation concerning His names! They will be recompensed for what they have been doing" (7:180).

The temple of this goddess worshiped by Quraish and the larger Kinanah tribes was destroyed by Khalid bin al-Walid in Ramadan 8 H. The temple was under the custody of Banu Shaiban. Khalid, heading 30 horsemen arrived there and exterminated that place. On his return, Muhammad s.a.w asked him if he had seen anything there? Khalid replied nothing. Muhammad s.a.w said that it was not fully destroyed and he has to return there. He went back again and saw that there was an Abyssinian woman naked with thorn hair. He struck her with his sword and tore her into "two parts" as according to Safi al-Rahman al-Mobarakpuri. He returned and narrated the story to Muhammad s.a.w, who then confirmed the fulfillment of the task. Some said that the "woman" was the personification of the "power" of the idol worshiped by the people who manifests itself after her "house" was destroyed.  

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Northern Arabia: Waṯani

Assalamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

We learned in our sīrah about this kind of religion or method of worship within Arabian Peninsula. Those who perform worship with the focus to statues or to idols claimed that, they are not worshiping those stuffs. They know that, the God the Highest is the God but the idols are just the wasīlah (connector) for them to communicate with the God the Highest. 

They believed that they are not worth to directly communicate with the God the Highest so they needed a representative to bring all of their wishes to the God the Highest and to communicate with the God on their behalf. Generally, there are two kinds of wasīlah in Northern Arabia during the Age of Ignorance The first one, the people would find certain respected living people such as shamans, religious person, and so on to pray for them or to fulfill their wishes as for shamans. The second, are those who connect themselves to the Lord of the universe with idols, statues and others.

Experience

I had a Buddhist experience for about five years so it would be long for me to elaborate about the practice of iconography within non-Muslim Indian traditions such as vigraha and murti. Icons were used as an example for practices and there is also the history of the idol-making and iconography in ancient India.

I did not prostrate before Buddhas' icons but I just kneel in front of certain icon at the monasteries that I visited while reciting the three refuge sentences and precepts of noble conducts in Pali because the teachers taught me not to worship the icon as in connecting oneself with any power who ruled the universe. I prostrated only when there is no icon during a discourse known as personal meditation. In this practice of reaching the facts of life, there is a practice known as the "stations of mind" with regard to meditation objects. The practices of Buddhists could be different as according to regions, conditions and personal temperaments. Some would only meditate, some honoring their teachers, some would only bow and some prostrate. They would do everything according to the stage of mind and for Southern Buddhists there are various literature with regard to meditation, psychological studies and others such as yoga and breathing techniques to control one self. 

I had once kept a picture of Buddha in my wallet while I was a lonely young boy because my family are entirely Muslim by inheritance which also makes me a "Muslim". I cannot mix around with Malay kids due to my background. It makes me easier to perform the pujas (honor) and taking the example of the enlightened teachers for myself. I secretly did all the sadhanas (spiritual practices) with the help of those prescribed subject matters such as the offering of food (hospitality), three sandalwood sticks if I could get ones, some white flour, some sugar, a banana or any fruit that I have that I would share it with or other beings or some flower buds. If there was no offerings then I would perform them mentally through the method prescribed in anapanasati bhavana.

The offerings are offered in the form of devotion to enlightened teachers and as a symbol of respect to other creatures or souls. I did know that the picture does not eat the food. But it was a training to treat our guests and other creatures like that... Symbolic. When guests come to us, we would also practice the same thing and offer them with hospitality and welcome. The reason why I am telling this experience is that I would like to inform those who preach that they should not generalize everyone because this life is not as simple as we think. Do not low-estimate your audience and never insult their intelligence. Respect everyone and practice humility so you will reach the love of the heavens and the earth.

Idolatry: Muslim View

As according to Muslim worldview, idol is an object made of human hands which resembles living creatures or anything from heavens and earth being deified or worshiped. This is based from the Quranic verses which means:

"Do they associate the God the Highest with idols who can not create something else? While the idols themselves are the hand-made of the people?" (Surah al-A'araf 7:191).

"Those whom they invoke besides the God the Highest create nothing and are themselves created" (Surah al-Nahl 16:20).

"Not one of the beings in the heavens and the earth but must come to the Most Gracious as a servant" (Surah Maryam 19:93)"

Among the great signs of the Resurrection is that, there would be nations who would return to the idolatry which says, "Abu Hurairah reported, prophet Muhammad s.a.w says, 'Resurrection would never happen before the waists of the women from the Daws tribe giggling around the Dhu al-Khalash, which is an idol worshiped by the Daws in Tabalah during the Age of Ignorance'" (Muslim Compilation, No. 5173).

Ibn Kaṯir in his Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyā' writes that, the first paganism happened in the world when human-being made the statues such as the Wadd, Suwā, Yaġuts, Ya'uq and Nasr. All of these figures were religious teachers who live in the time-span between Adam a.s and Noah a.s. They were the sons of Adam a.s. and Wadd was the eldest one and a devoted son (Ibn Abi Hatim; Urwah bin al-Zubayr; Ibn Katir in the Qiṣāṣ al-Anbiyā': Story of Noah section 105). 

Most important rituals in the later paganism are generally related to illegal sex and war. Any form of worship toward the idols is viewed as focusing toward the satisfaction of passions, acquiring worldly physical strength and to achieve worldly "paradise".

There is no transcendental aspect within all teachings related to paganism. While the teachings related to patriarch Abraham emphasized higher achievement in life which is transcendental within the concept of eternal spiritual happiness in the hereafter.

Origin of Idolatry in Arabia

Ibn Abbas

Ibn Abbas has compiled the narration that idolatry appears in the age of sage Noah a.s. The origin of the idol names were taken from their holy men who had once lived among them. In order to keep those holy men in their memory, to remember their contributions to the people and to boost up the spirit of people in worship; so they made images, carvings which represent those holy men and symbols to visualize the physical of those deceased holy men. Generation passed by and those idols and holy men were deified as divinities beside the God the Highest as the God Himself.

From Ibn Abbas, "The idols being passed to ancient Arabs and it becomes Wadd, the name for the tribe of Kalb; suwa, the idol of the Huzail; the Yaguts, the idol of the Gutaifs; Ya'uq, the idols of the Hamdanites, the Nasrites and the Himyarites" (Bukhari, no. 4920; Ibn al-Munzir and Mardawaih).

Idols from the Period of Noah

Sage Noah a.s. is among the prophets respected by the Muslims and the narration and the exegesis of Ibn Abbas reported that some of the idols worshiped within Arab nations as originated from the idols of the people during the era of Noah a.s just before the great flood.

Among them are:

Wadd who was worshiped as a god by the Kaybites in Dawmat al-Jandal.   

Suwa who was adopted as a guardian in Yanbu' region closer to Medina. She was a goddess for the people in Ruhat and the Lihyanites were the servants involved within the services and the maintenance for the god.

Yagūts was worshiped in the form of lion by the Muradites. It was also venerated by the Gutaifs at the mountain slopes located in the Sheba city, by the Huras in Madhaj in Yemen. Others who venerate it were the An'um of Thayyi'. Ibn Kalbi mentioned that those from Madhaj and the Jurashites worshiped the idol. 

Ya'uq which was worshiped by the Hamdanites and the Kinanites as the god of horse. Its idol was erected in a village known as Khaywan, which took two nights to reach Mecca from there.

Nasr the god worshiped by Himyarites of Balkha in Yemen. It was assumed as the god of herring and the offering services were patronized by the Dhi Kila family.

The God the Highest says through the Revelation, "And they said, 'Never leave behind your gods and never leave Wadd or Suwa' or Yaguts and Ya'uq and Nasr!'" (Surah Nuh 71:23).

Each tribe worship different gods and having different temples for their tribe. The position of those gods were different. Later, the practice of venerating carving idols passing down from the nations before the great flood to the Arabs within the Arabian Peninsula since they mingled around with the Rasibites and those who lived among the Rasibites in the south of ancient Iraq.  

I think this topic would be an elaborate one since it is also related to some other cults and regions. I would try to make several different posts for this just for references for those who are interested in the history of ancient Arabia, inshā-Allah. We cannot understand things only in few minutes but we need to ponder and evaluate things with observations...

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Southern Arabia: Religion

Assalamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Planet Worship

Just like other regions such as ancient Egypt, ancient India and ancient China, and others, the Arabs of South Arabia also had their own "folk" religion. Ancient Southern Arabs worshiped the Sun and the Moon. They characterized those two stars with various characteristics, personifications and they worshiped them as divinities. The most important deity for South Arabs was the Sun. Maybe because it was the main source of the light in the heaven. Other stars were regarded the representatives of the Sun. 

There are some part of Hindus who worship the Sun in various names such as Surya, Savitr, Ushas, and other planets within the nine planet system. I am familiar with all of those system though I am not an Indian but an Arab by ethnicity. This system also exists in ancient Mesopotamian and Babylonian astrolatry traditions where the followers of this tradition were mentioned as Sabians in the Glorious Quran. Many of those in Mesopotamia were converted into Christianity and the traditions such as baptismal in the river is basically the same thing with Christianity's baptismal ritual and other Middle Eastern religions such as Islam and Judaism. The Hindus also practiced baptismal known as Snanam. This ritual is not unique to any religion but a universal and an ancient ritual. Other than that, ancient Egyptian also worshiped solar deity, Ra who became the main deity of ancient Egyptians during the 5th dynasty. 

Judaism

Jewish people had tried to propagate Judaism in Yemen and South Arabia as a whole. Among the famous native Jewish of Yemen was king Joseph Dhū Nuwas (517-525 CE) where his conversion was verified by two Jewish cohens of Banu Qurayza from Yatrib. The previous Yemenite kings before him were the adherents of the Most Merciful cult which was a non-polytheistic religion of South Arabia. The adherents of the cult invoked the Unknown God with His attribute the Most Merciful.

King Dhu Nuwas was hostile toward the Christians and he attacked the Christians in the Aksumite empire at his northern frontier in Najran (nowadays in Saudi Arabia). There was an incident which provokes the war between the Jews and the Christians in Southern Arabia and they chopped the head of each other. A Jewish man had build up a fort known as al-Ablaq to store the weapons of Imru al-Qays. When the enemies of Imru al-Qays wanted to seize the weapon, the guy whose name is Samuel refused to surrender them. The enemies threatened to kill both of his sons if he refused to surrender the weapons and he was so stubborn. They later killed his sons in front of his eyes. So, there was an Arab idiom which says that, "Hold on to your promises like Samuel". Samuel reported everything to Joseph and Joseph went to Najran and forced the Christians there to convert into Judaism or being thrown into the fire trench.

Many of those were massacred in the fire pit because of their refusal to conversion. It is mentioned in the Quran, Surah al-Burūj (85:4-8) where the God the Highest through the tongue of noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w condemned this crime and some scholars reported that around 20,000 were massacred. This is a lesson for people nowadays that we cannot force others to believe what we believe or practice and sufferings because of war is due to human's egoism.

Christianity

Christianity reached Southern Arabia through Iraq and through Eastern Roman empire. Eastern Roman empire was so close as it consists of some parts of Syria and Egypt. The fortress of Christianity was in Najran. The Christians there were governed by their Church and the leaders of the Church such as the Sa'id, Aqeb and Usquf (Bishop). Sa'id acts as a head of the tribe, leading the soldiers in the battle, managing foreign affairs and managing inter-tribal communication. Aqib manages the worldly affairs and home affairs. Usquf was a chief for religious rites and the Church.

Yaqub al-Hamawi mentioned that among the ambassadors of Najran who met Muhammad s.a.w for a discussion were an Usquf known as Abu Harita, an Aqeb whose name is Abd al-Maseh and a Sa'id known as Wahhab. They refused to engage in Mobahalah (mutual prayer for cursing) with Muhammad s.a.w but they made a peace treaty with him and return to their state without any problem nor conversion of each others. They remained Christians and Muhammad s.a.w, a Muslim.

De Lacy O'Leary (1872-1957) mentioned that the people of Najran were the member of Jacobite Church. They were close to the Ethiopians since their religion was the same. Many Arabs became Christian monks,establishing churches within their vicinity, meditating in caves and propagating the doctrine of sacrifice to eliminate sins and salvation, and the trinity and hypostases which is the basis of Christianity.       
      

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Southern Arabia: Business and Trade

Assalamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Southern Arabia located in between Africa and Asia and Indian Ocean. That makes them easier to contact other regions for business and commercial activities. They did business with ancient India where they imported jewelries, gold, precious stones, elephant tusks, pepper, stoves, sandalwood and agarwood to Assyrian empire, Egypt and Phoenicia. They sent ships to India and Far East in South East Asia (Further India) and bringing the stuffs from the sea through land routes by caravans.

I guess from South East Asia, the Arabs might also brought the weapons such as sword since the archeologists from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) had founded ancient iron-smelting sites in Sungai Batu in Bujang Valley of Kedah state which dates back to the 3rd-5th century. I had seen some of the findings in the new library of the USM when I was a postgraduate student but unfortunately I did not capture the picture, haha. 

From Eastern Africa, they imported perfumes, ostrich feathers, gold, meat and calamondin. From Socotra, they imported sandalwood and from Bahrain, pearls. Yemenite traders brought all of these stuffs to the markets in Yemen. They trade those stuffs with people from around the regions. The ancient Arabs and people from Middle East prefer land routes over the maritime routes because waves in Persian Bay was so terrible for them.

It is reasonable for Strabo to mention that Yemen could be equally compared with Egypt and Byzantine city-state in term of their development besides they rarely engage themselves in wars since violence could slow the progress for development and turning a state into the poor one. We could see this during the World Wars and it was not so much fun even when we just hear the experience of those who live at that time.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!