Al-Uzza

al-‘Uzzá
al-‘Uzzá
Goddess of might and protection
	2nd century AD relief fromHatradepicting the goddessal-Latflanked by two female figures, possibly goddesses al-Uzza and Manat
Major cult center	Petra
Symbol	Three trees
Region	Arabia (Arabian Peninsula)
Genealogy
Siblings	Al-Lat,Manāt

Al-ʻUzzā(Arabic:العزىal-ʻUzzā[alʕuzzaː]orOld Arabic,[alʕuzzeː]) was one of the three chiefgoddessesofArabian religionin pre-Islamic times and she was worshipped by thepre-Islamic Arabsalong withal-LātandManāt.A stone cube atNakhla(nearMecca) was held sacred as part of her cult. She is mentioned inQur'an 53:19as being one of the goddesses who people worshipped.

Al-ʻUzzā, likeHubal,was called upon for protection by the pre-IslamicQuraysh."In 624 at the 'battle called Uhud', the war cry of the Qurayshites was, "O people of Uzzā, people ofHubal!".^[1]Al-‘Uzzá also later appears inIbn Ishaq's account of the allegedSatanic Verses.^[2]

The temple dedicated to al-ʻUzzā and the statue wasdestroyed by Khalid ibn al Walid in Nakhlain 630 AD.^[3]^[4]

Cult of al-‘Uzzá

According to theBook of Idols(Kitāb al-Aṣnām) byHishām ibn al-Kalbī^[5]

Over her [an Arab] built a house calledBussin which the people used to receiveoracular communications.The Arabs as well as theQurayshused to name their children "‘Abdu l-ʻUzzā".Furthermore, al-ʻUzzā was the greatest idol among theQuraysh.They used to journey to her, offer gifts unto her, and seek her favours throughsacrifice.^[6]

TheQurayshused to circumambulate theKa‘bahand say,

Byal-Lātand al-ʻUzzā,

Andal-Manāt,the third idol besides.

Verily they areal-gharānīq

Whose intercession is to be sought.

This last phrase is said to be the source of the so-calledSatanic Verses;the Arabic termal-gharānīqis translated as "most exalted females" by Faris in theBook of Idols,but he annotates this much-arguedhapax legomenonin a footnote as "lit. Numidian cranes."

Each of the three goddesses had a separate shrine nearMecca.The most prominent Arabian shrine of al-ʻUzzā was at a place called Nakhlah near Qudayd, east of Mecca towardaṭ-Ṭā’if;three trees were sacred to her there (according to a narration through al-'Anazi Abū-‘Alī in theKitāb 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" )

‘Abdu l-‘Uzzá[ "Slave of the Mightiest One" ] was a favourite proper name before the advent ofIslam.^[7]The name al-‘Uzzá appears as an emblem of beauty in late paganArabic poetryquoted by Ibn al-Kalbī, and oaths were sworn by her.

Susan Krone suggests that the identities of al-‘Uzzá andal-Lātwere fused in central Arabia uniquely.^[8]

On the authority of‘Abdu l-Lāh ibn ‘Abbās,at-Tabariderivedal-ʻUzzāfromal-‘Azīz"the Mighty", one of the 99 "beautiful names of Allah" in his commentary on Qur'an 7:180.^{[citation needed]}

Destruction of temple

Shortly after theConquest of Mecca,Muhammad began efforts to eliminate the last cult images reminiscent of pre-Islamic practices.

He sentKhalid ibn Al-WalidduringRamadan630 AD (8 AH) to a place called Nakhlah, where the goddess al-ʻUzzā was worshipped by the tribes of Quraish and Kinanah. The shrine's custodians were fromBani Shaiba.Al-ʻUzzā was considered the most important goddess in the region.

ArabMuslim historianIbn al-Kalbī(c. 737–819CE) tells howMuhammadorderedKhālid ibn al-Walīdto kill the pre-Islamic Arabian goddess al-ʿUzzā, who was supposed to inhabit one of three trees:

Khalid destroyed the first one, returned to Muhammad to report. Muhammad replied, asking whether something eventful happened, which Khalid denied. The same thing happened after cutting down the second tree. When Khalid was about to destroy the last tree, a woman with wild hair appeared, who is called "al Uzza" by al-Sulami the custodian of al-Uzza, and ordered to kill Khalid. Khalid struck the woman down with his sword, and chopped her head off at which she fell down in a pile of ashes. Khalid went on to kill Sulami and cut the last tree. When he returned to Muhammad, Muhammad is supposed to have said that the woman was al-Uzza, and she shall never be worshiped again.^[9]

Influence in other religions

Uzza the garden

According toEaston's Bible Dictionary,Uzzawas agardenin whichManassehandAmonwere buried (2 Kings 21:18, 26). It was probably near the king's palace inJerusalem,or may have formed part of the palace grounds. Manasseh may have acquired it from someone of this name. Another view is that these kings were culpable of idolatry and drew the attention ofEzekiel.^[10]

References

^Tawil(1993).
^Ibn Ishaq Sirat Rasul Allah, pp. 165–167.
^S.R. Al-Mubarakpuri (6 October 2020).The sealed nectar.Independently Published. p. 256.ISBN 9798694145923.Retrieved2013-02-03.
^"He sent Khalid bin Al-Waleed in Ramadan 8 A.H", Witness-Pioneer Archived2011-09-27 at theWayback Machine
^Ibn al-Kalbi,trans. Faris (1952), pp. 16–23.
^Jawad Ali,Al-Mufassal Fi Tarikh al-Arab Qabl al-Islam(Beirut), 6:238-9
^Hitti(1937), pp. 96–101.
^Krone, Susan (1992).Die altarabische Gottheit al-Lat Cited in Arabic Theology, Arabic Philosophy: From the Many to the One.Berlin: Speyer & Peters GmbH. p. 96.ISBN 9783631450925.
^Elias, J.J. (2014).Key Themes for the Study of Islam.London, UK: Oneworld Publications.
^Provan, Iain W. (1988). Hezekiah and the Books of Kings: A Contribution to the Debate about the Composition of the Deuteronomistic History. (Volume 172 of Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft) Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 136n13.ISBN 9783110849424.Retrieved 6 June 2016.Google Books

Bibliography

Ambros, Arne A. (2004).A Concise Dictionary of Koranic Arabic.Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag.ISBN 978-3-89500-400-1.
Berkey, Jonathan Porter (2003).The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800.Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-58813-3.
Burton, John (1977).The Collection of the Qur'an (the collection and composition of the Qu'ran in the lifetime of Muhammad).Cambridge University Press.
Finegan, Jack (1952).The Archeology of World Religions.Princeton University Press. pp.482–485, 492.
Peters, Francis E. (1994b),Muhammad and the Origins of Islam,SUNY Press,ISBN 978-0-7914-1875-8
Hitti, Philip K.(1937).History of the Arabs.
Ibn al-Kalbī, Hisham(1952).The Book of Idols, Being a Translation from the Arabic of theKitāb al-Asnām.Translation and commentary by Nabih Amin Faris. Princeton University Press.LCCN 52006741.
Peters, F. E. (1994).The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places.Princeton University Press.
al-Tawil, Hashim (1993).Early Arab Icons: Literary and Archaeological Evidence for the Cult of Religious Images in Pre-Islamic Arabia(PhD thesis). University of Iowa. Archived fromthe originalon 2005-01-20.

External links

"Those Are The High Flying Claims":A Muslim site on Satanic Verses story
Nabataean pantheonincluding al-ʻUzzā
Quotes concerning al-‘Uzzá from Hammond and Hitti

[1] Tawil(1993).

[2] Ibn Ishaq Sirat Rasul Allah, pp. 165–167.

[google1-3] S.R. Al-Mubarakpuri (6 October 2020).The sealed nectar.Independently Published. p. 256.ISBN 9798694145923.Retrieved2013-02-03.

[witness-pioneervil-4] "He sent Khalid bin Al-Waleed in Ramadan 8 A.H", Witness-Pioneer Archived2011-09-27 at theWayback Machine

[5] Ibn al-Kalbi,trans. Faris (1952), pp. 16–23.

[6] Jawad Ali,Al-Mufassal Fi Tarikh al-Arab Qabl al-Islam(Beirut), 6:238-9

[7] Hitti(1937), pp. 96–101.

[Krone-8] Krone, Susan (1992).Die altarabische Gottheit al-Lat Cited in Arabic Theology, Arabic Philosophy: From the Many to the One.Berlin: Speyer & Peters GmbH. p. 96.ISBN 9783631450925.

[9] Elias, J.J. (2014).Key Themes for the Study of Islam.London, UK: Oneworld Publications.

[10] Provan, Iain W. (1988). Hezekiah and the Books of Kings: A Contribution to the Debate about the Composition of the Deuteronomistic History. (Volume 172 of Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft) Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 136n13.ISBN 9783110849424.Retrieved 6 June 2016.Google Books

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