Matriarchal paganism: the three mother goddesses of pre-Islamic

Arabia, Al-Uzza, and Manat Allat

Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (737-819) is an

Arab historian, compiler of the oral traditions of the Bedouins and
professional storytellers. Among his works still exist there is the Kitab
al-Asnam (Arabic: al-kitb Asnam book idols) in which he talks
about the Arab idols of the pre-Islamic period. The interest of this book
is enhanced by the information it provides on the Arab and ancient
tribal customs and traditions that would otherwise be lost without
doubt.
The ancient religion of Arab

Across regions and eras,

the Arabs worshiped hundreds of different deities. The goddesses AlUzza, al-Lat and Manat formed a trinity in pre-Islamic Arabia. Their
worship was widespread: the Nabatean Petra in the North, the
legendary kingdoms of Arabia Felix in the South, including Saba, the
biblical Sheba (Saba queen) into the east, and Iran Palmyra. They were
popular goddesses in Mecca in Mohammed's time.All three have been
venerated as aniconic stones (non-figurative) uncut, called
the baetyls . The "idols" of al-Lat and Al Uzza were 2 360 pagan statues
(1 per day) of the Ka 'aba that were destroyed by Mohammed. Some
idols are mentioned in the Qur'an of Yemeni imports, their evocation is
rather vague because Yemen at the time of Muhammad, was for
several centuries Judaised then Christianized.
Al-`Uzz ([ al-`uzz], the all-powerful ): The goddess of the
morning star. Pre-Islamic idol related to Venus / Aphrodite and
personalized by a long granite block about six meters.
Al-Lat ([ al-LLAT], al-Lat, the goddess ): sun goddess
represented by a huge image of gray granite. Herodotus (484420 BC) indicates the presence of an Arab deity named Alilat (+
[ al + ilaha al-ilaha], the goddess alilat).
Manat ([ Mana]): Goddess of the waning moon, a symbol of
fate and time of death ([ Maniya] destiny, fate, death). PreIslamic deity of fate, which cut the thread of fate in the image
of Morta third Parque.
Dusares, the god-son

Dusares at the time was the main male god with his feminine trinity:
Uzza, and Manat Allat. Dusares would be the son of Manat, the goddess
of fate, or the Virgin Chaamou (pronounced Kaamou ), no doubt a
transcription error for Kaabou , the Cube (shape of the sacred stone,
divine sacred stone, or the shape of the sanctuary).
Recall also that the gods born of a virgin are typical matriarchal cults
(fatherless society nor husband, but not without uncles): virgin being
synonymous with unmarried, and a child born of a virgin being a
fatherless child .

Allat, a popular goddess

Allat (Arabic: , e Hebrew n: Elat ) was a

goddess of fertility and femininity in Saudi venerated in pre-Islamic
times. His name is a contraction of al ilahat goddess. She had her
statue in the Kaaba where she was supposed to reside. An inscription
on a rock Adumattu Saudi said: " May Allat (the Goddess) exhausser all
our wishes." The ancient Arabs were sworn in prayer: "In the salt, fire
and Al-Lat which is the most all great. " Another inscription says: "
Shalm-Allat " , " Peace Goddess " - similar to " God's peace upon
you " . A blessing hand gesture accompanied these words. Before the
advent of Islam, one can find the name of some compounds in Allat
names like Wahaballat (Wahab - Allat - ) , that is to say, "the
gift of Allat"and Shalamallat ( ) which means "peace of Allat
- " .
More than 2000 years before Islam

She was worshiped in Mecca for more than 2000

years before Islam. The famous Islamic shrines in Mecca was originally
his sanctuary. Allat simply means "Goddess" as Allah means "the
God" . The final T is feminine. Al-Lat, whose name is a contraction of alIllahat, "the Goddess" , is mentioned by Herodotus (fifth century. BCAD) as Alilat , he identifies with Aphrodite. It is also sometimes
equated with Athena and is called "the Mother of the Gods" , or "The
Greatest of All" . She is a goddess of spring and fertility, the earth
goddess who brings prosperity.
A cosmic goddess

Arab goddess
Allat prominently in the Syro-Mesopotamian pantheon of the first
centuries of our era.Identified in the context of syncretism, to Athena,
she took martial paces. Identified Nemesis, it acquires a cosmic
dimension based, inter alia, on the Babylonian astronomical

tradition. The complex iconography of the reliefs of the temple of Allat

at Hatra, near the palmyren art, symbolizes this elevation to cosmic
deity.
A lunar and agricultural goddess

Its symbol is the crescent moon

(sometimes shown with a sun disk resting in). The sun in Saudi was
called Shams , was considered feminine, and could represent an
aspect of Al-Lat.Les Islamic nations still use the star and crescent on
their flags. As goddess of fertility, she carries a sheaf of wheat in one
hand; and a piece of incense sap in the other. Its emblem was found
engraved on many censers. It is an agricultural goddess like other
Mediterranean goddesses (eg Demeter) and loved having cakes grain
offering baked in the oven.
The Protecting wildlife

The goddess is sometimes shown

seated on his throne, wearing a veil on her head and wearing a loose
tunic; she holds in her left hand a palm resting on her left shoulder. The
lion sitting next to her says he is a mistress goddess of wild
animals; an isolated inscription likens the goddess Artemis, protector of
wild animals among the Greeks (see below, left, Palmyra). Lions Allat
are statues found during excavations of the Temple of Allat in Palmyra,
they represent a lion holding between his legs antelope;the lion is
probably the protective goddess Allat wildlife identified by antelope.
A sanctuary of peace destroyed by Muslims

She had a sanctuary in the city of Ta'if ()

east of Mecca, and was known from Arabia to Iran. She was the chief
deity, and was represented as a cubic stone (meteor or volcanic rock)
around which a shrine was built, "The house of the goddess." It was
forbidden to cut trees, hunt and kill; and the one who took refuge there
should not be attacked. All the Arabs, including the Bani Quraysh tribe
(that of Mohamed), worshiped the goddess and made pilgrimages to
his shrine. After the capture of the town of al-Taif by the Muslims, the
Prophet Muhammad ordered Ibn al-Mughira Shu'bah ( ) to
destroy the sanctuary and statue Allat ( )and recover the wealth
that were offered.
Khamsa - The Hand of Fatima - The Hand of Miriam

Allat has a famous hand, many people of

the Middle East are today as talisman lucky charm, not knowing that it
is the hand of their ancient goddess: the goddess Allat for Muslims,
and the goddess Elat for Jews . As many Jews as Muslims use
it. Muslims now call the Hand of Fatima .Fatima is another name of the
goddess Arabic. Jews call it the Hand of Miriam , but the use of the
protective hand of the Goddess is the same: to drive the evil eye. The
eye amulet on "turns" to the source of the curse.Rejected by the
Sunnis, it is very important contrast among Shiites. Fatima was another
name for Al-Lat. It is also called the Creator , the Source of the Sun
and the Tree of Paradise , the Tree of Life . It is said that Fatima has
existed from the beginning of the material world. Mohammed called his
daughter Fatima as the goddess, but her worship was still violently
repressed by Muslims.
Uzza, the warrior goddess
Al Uzza, al-Uzza, al-Ozza, Uzza, Izza.
Also called: Uzza Saida ( "Uzza blessed") or if ida ( "blessed").

Mentioned in the Koran, 'Uzz or Uzza (Arabic: ) was a pre-Islamic

Arab fertility goddess, one of the three most revered deities of Mecca
with Allat and Manat. She was very popular: the children were above
named Abd al-'Uzz (first very focused before Islam) and often
invoked in oaths. The name was'Uzz symbol of beauty in the preIslamic Arabic poetry. Nicknamed the warrior "virgin" (not married), she
is the youngest in the triad of goddesses; Al Lat; and Mana. Manat and
Al-Lat are considered daughters al-Uzza.
A tribal deity of power

Al-Uzza, "the most powerful" , was one of the

most revered deities by the Arabs. Uzzi , in Hebrew also
means "powerful" , hence the name of the factory of the famous
Israeli machine guns. Originally, the Sabeans ( Kingdom of Bilqis,
Queen of Sheba, in the current Yemen ), revered Al-Uzza whose cult
has spread throughout Arabia. It was very popular in all the Middle
East, including Jerusalem . She was the goddess of many Arab tribes
and kingdoms of northern Arabia, Syria and Iraq, as was the case in
Palmyra and in the kingdom of Manadhziah.She was the goddess of the
morning star and the evening Venus. She had a temple at Petra
(although it was not determined), and may well have been the patron
goddess of the city.

Many assimilation among Greek

The Greeks equated to Urania , the "Heavenly
Aphrodite" ( "Celeste" , an epithet of Aphrodite, as well as the name
of a muse) and Caelistis , a lunar goddess, the Roman name for the
goddess Carthaginian Tanit . Al-Uzza is also sometimes identified
with Isis .Other sources equate to Minerva / Athena , which would
make her a virgin goddess (unmarried) warrior. Herodotus says that the
supreme goddess of the Arabs was Urania, who said he was called
Alilat (Al-Lat). Indeed Al-Uzza was sometimes confused with Al-Lat,
leading some researchers to wonder if Al-Lat and Al-Uzza were not
different regional names for the same goddess.

An avatar of Ishtar

It has much in
common with Ishtar and Astarte, also goddesses of morning and
evening Star. They are all goddesses of love and war, and big cats were
sacred for them too. It is shown as an army bellatrix (Roman warrior),
standing near an acacia tree with a Caracal, or desert lynx. Ashtar
(Ashtar - Syria and Mesopotamia), it is a female deity ensuring
the reproduction in animals, in fact, this planet is known as
the "morning star - " and " the evening star - " is
visible in the sky for two periods of the year. During the first period, it
appears as a very bright star in the east before sunrise, and during the
second period, it is visible in the west after sunset. Precisely, these
periods correspond to the natural cycle of reproduction in many

animals, hence the name of the "planet of love, fertility and

beauty" Aphrodite of the Greeks, the Romans Venus, and as "al-'Uzza
- " Arabs. Al-Uzza was the goddess who symbolized the winter
season as Allat who was the goddess of the summer.
The Meccans, son of Uzza

Al-Uzza embodies the confidence,

alertness and preparedness. She is very protective, and is an important
ally in the battles. She was honored by Koreishites (the tribe of
Muhammad) as one of their most important goddesses. They said "son
of Uzza" and implored her protection in battles. The Arabs moved the
stones that embodied the deities to erect amid the battlefields,
because they believed that their presence among the fighters
protected them and gave them the courage and the help needed to
bring victory and defeat them their enemies. According to Arab
historians, Bani (the tribe) Quraish, had moved the stones of Allat and
Al-Uzza in the battle of Uhud " " , against the young Islamic
army led by the Prophet Muhammad.
His sanctuary destroyed by Muslims

Al-Uzza was his sanctuary

Nakhlah in a palm valley, on the road from Mecca to Iraq. There were
three acacia trees on which it was said that she was staying.Some
scholars believe that it even may have been the tutelary deity of
Mecca. In the year 8 AH, after the capture of Mecca by Muslims, the
Prophet Muhammad told Khalid Ibn al-Walid ( ) mission to
destroy the statue of the goddess, demolish the sanctuary and cut his
tree.
Manat, the old goddess of fate and death
It is the oldest deity among the Arabs; its widespread cult could
precede those of Al-Uzza and Al-Lat. This is a female deity, represented
by a non carved black stone, located at the edge of the Red Sea to
Qadid (), in an area between Medina and Mecca. The term Manat (
)Manawayat or Menata is derived from the Arabic words al-muna (
)and al-manyyah (), that is to say the "death - " , "fate -
"ruin and destruction. Manat was also among the Arab goddess of
justice ( )and equity (). St. Epiphanes 4th century called The
Mother of Dusares, the local mountain god, calling him by his title or
Chaamu Chalmous, which means "young girl or virgin".

Al Manat was associated with Nemesis pre-Olympian goddess of

vengeance, itself linked to Cybele, Artemis and Demeter.
It is known from the Nabatean inscriptions of the graves were placed
under its protection, asking him to curse the Snatchers. It is mentioned
in poetry, bringing the dead to their graves, seeking their cutting
death. It is represented by an old woman with a cup, and symbols at
the bottom of her dress spell his name in the Sabaean language (which
does not use vowels and is written from right to left), NCDs. The
waning moon on his head is a symbol of death. His worship ceased in
the year 8 AH when the Prophet Muhammad entrusted Aly Ibn Abi Talib
( ) mission to destroy his statue ().