Al-'Uzzā

Mentioned in the Qur'an (Sura 53:19), al-‘Uzzá "the Mightiest One" or "the strong" (derived from the root "unicode|ʕzz") was a pre-Islamic Arabian fertility goddess who was one of the three chief goddesses of Mecca. Al-‘Uzzá was worshipped by the Nabataeans, who equated her with the Greek goddess Aphrodite Urania (Roman Venus Caelestis). A stone cube at aṭ-Ṭā’if (near Mecca) was held sacred as part of her cult.

Al-‘Uzzá, like Hubal, was called upon for protection by the pre-Islamic Quraysh. "In 624 at the battle called 'Uhud', the war cry of the Qurayshites was, "O people of Uzzā, people of Hubal!" [Tawil 1993] Al-‘Uzzā also later appears in Ibn Ishaq's account of the Satanic Verses.

At Petra

The first known mention of al-‘Uzzá is from the inscriptions at Dedan, the capital of the Lihyanite Kingdom, in the fourth or third century BC. She had been adopted alongside Dushara as the presiding goddess at Petra, the Nabataen capital, where she assimiliated with Isis, Tyche and Aphrodite attributes and superseded her sisters. [Jane Taylor, Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans, I.B.Tauris Publishers, 2001, ISBN 1860645089 pg. 130] During the 5th century Christianity became the prominent religion of the region following conquest by Barsauma. [Jane Taylor, Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans I.B.Tauris Publishers, 2001, ISBN 1860645089 pg. 209]

Cult of al-‘Uzzá

It is now problematic to get a glimpse of the deities of pre-Islamic Arabia. Origins of deities have to be suggested with caution, but inscriptions related to al-‘Uzzá among the Nabataeans at Petra have been interpreted to associate al-‘Uzzá with the planet Venus.

According to the "Book of Idols" ("Kitāb al-Aṣnām") by Hishām ibn al-Kalbī (N.A. Faris 1952, pp. 16-23):The Quraysh were wont to circumambulate the Ka‘bah and say,::By "al-Lāt" and "al-‘Uzzá",::And "al-Manāt", the third idol besides.::Verily they are "al-gharānīq"::Whose intercession is to be sought.This last phrase is said to be the source of the aforementioned 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 deleted from the Qur'an: "These were also called "the Daughters of God" and were supposed to intercede before God."

It is unclear whether these goddesses were always regarded as the daughters of God, or had originally been called daughters of some other deity; the "Book of Idols" says that each of the three's worship was introduced at a different period, suggesting that they may not originally even have been sisters.

Each of the three goddesses had a separate shrine near Mecca. The most prominent Arabian shrine of al-‘Uzzá was at a place called Nakhlah near Qudayd, east of Mecca towards aṭ-Ṭā’if; three trees were sacred to her there (according to a narration through al-'Anazi Abū-‘Alī in the "Kitāb al-Aṣnām".)Quote|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 at the rise of Islam. (Hitti 1937). The name al-‘Uzzá appears as an emblem of beauty in late pagan Arabic poetry quoted by Ibn al-Kalbī, and oaths were sworn by her. [ [http://answering-islam.org.uk/Books/Al-Kalbi/uzza.htm] ]

Al-‘Uzzá's possible presence in South Arabia has been thoroughly effaced by time but her presence has not been obliterated far north at Petra of the Nabataeans, who had deities with Arabian names early in their history, whom they later associated with Hellenistic gods, al-‘Uzzá becoming associated with Isis and with Aphrodite [http://nabataea.net/gods.html] . Excavations at Petra since 1974 have revealed a temple, apparently dedicated to Isis/al-‘Uzzá, now named after some carvings found inside, the Temple of the Winged Lions (Hammond). Inscriptions record the name of al-‘Uzzá at Petra.

A fragment of poetry by Zayd ibn-'Amr ibn-Nufayl, quoted in the "Book of Idols", suggests that al-‘Uzzá had two daughters: "No more do I worship al-‘Uzzá and her two daughters. [ _ar. فلا العزى أدين ولا ابنتـيهـا.] "

Muhammad Mohar Ali writes (2002):Quote|The Arabs had developed a number of subsidiary Ka‘bāt ("tawaghit") 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 of these shrines were those of al-Lāt at Ta'if, al-‘Uzzá at Nakhlah and al-Manāt near Qudayd. The origins of these idols are uncertain. Ibn al-Kalbī says that al-Lāt was "younger" ('ahdath) than al-Manawat, while al-‘Uzzá was "younger" than both al-Lāt and al-Manawat. But though al-‘Uzzá was thus the youngest of the three; it was nonetheless the most important and the greatest ("‘azam") idol with the Quraysh who, along with the Banū Kinānah, ministered to it.

On the authority of ‘Abdu l-Lāh ibn ‘Abbās, at-Tabari derived "al-‘Uzzá" from "al-‘Azīz" "the Mighty", one of the 99 "beautiful names of God" in his commentary on Qur'an 7:180 [Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi, The Book of Idols, 25] .

Uzza the Garden

According to Easton's Bible Dictionary, "Uzza" was a garden in which Manasseh and Amon were buried (2 Kings 21:18, 26). It was probably near the king's palace in Jerusalem, or may have formed part of the palace grounds. Manasseh may probably have acquired it from some one of this name.

As an Angel

In Judaic and Christian lore Uzza has been also used as an alternative name for the angel Metatron in the Sefer ha-heshek. More commonly he is referred to as either the seraphim Semyaza or as one of the three guardian angels of Egypt (Rahab, Mastema and Duma) that harried the Jews during the exodus. [ Gustav Davidson, A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels, Scrollhouse, 1967 ISBN 002907052X pg. xiii, xxiv, ] As Semyaza in legend he is the seraph tempted by Ishtahar into revealing the explicit name of God and was thus burned alive and hung head down between heaven and earth as the constellation Orion. [Gustav Davidson, A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels, Scrollhouse, 1967 ISBN 002907052X pg. 301] In the 3rd book of Enoch and in the Zohar he is one of the fallen angels punished for cohabiting with human women and fathering the anakim. [ Gustav Davidson, A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels, Scrollhouse, 1967 ISBN 002907052X pg. 18, 65 ] ‘Uzzā is also identified with Abezi Thibod ("father devoid of counsel") who in early Jewish lore is also used as another name for Samael and Mastema referring to a powerful spirit who shared princedom of Egypt with Rahab and opposed Moses to eventually drown in the Red sea. [ Gustav Davidson, A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels, Scrollhouse, 1967 ISBN 002907052X pg. 4 ]

References

*Ambros Arne A 2004: "A Concise Dictionary of Koranic Arabic". Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag. ISBN 3-89500-400-6
*Burton, John, "The Collection of the Qur'an," Cambridge University Press, 1977: the collection and composition of the Qu'ran in the life time of Muhammad
*Finegan, Jack, "The Archeology of World Religions," Princeton University Press, 1952, pages 482-485, 492
*Hammond, Philip, "An Isisian Model for The Goddess of the 'Temple of the Winged Lions' at Petra (Jordan)". 1985
*Hitti, Philip K. "History Of The Arabs", 1937, pp 96-101
* [http://www.alwaraq.com/index2.htm?i=137&page=1 Kitab al-Asnam] in the original Arabic
*Peters, F. E., "The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places". Princeton University Press 1994
*al-Tawil, Hashim, "Early Arab Icons: Literary and Archaeological Evidence for the Cult of Religious Images in Pre-Islamic Arabia", PhD dissertation, University of Iowa, 1993 [http://www.uib.no/jais/v002cmt/pavcmt01.htm]
*Ibn al-Kalbī; (author) and Nabih Amin Faris (translator & commentary) (1952): "The Book of Idols, Being a Translation from the Arabic of the "Kitāb al-Asnām"." Princeton University Press. US Library of Congress #52006741
*Eastons

External links

* [http://www.pantheon.org/articles/u/uzza.html See definition for al-Uzza in Encyclopedia Mythica]
* [http://www.bismikaallahuma.org/History/pre-islamic.htm "Pre-Islamic Arabia And Its Socio-Religious Condition"] , by Prof. Muhammad Mohar Ali, Islamic University Madina, Saudi Arabia, 2002
* [http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Polemics/sverses.html "Those Are The High Flying Claims":] A Muslim site on Satanic Verses story
* [http://nabataea.net/gods.html Nabataean pantheon] including Uzza
* [http://www.acacialand.com/deities.html Quotes concerning 'Uzza from Hammond and Hitti]
* [http://voi.org/books/htemples2/ch11.htm RELIGION OF PAGAN ARABIA]