Al-'Uzzā

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Mentioned in the Qur'an (Sura 53:20), al-ʕuzzā "the Mightiest One" or "the strong" (derived from the root ʕzz) was a pre-Islamic Arabian fertility goddess who was one of the three chief goddesses of Mecca. Uzzā was worshipped by the Nabataeans, who equated her with the Graeco-Roman goddesses Aphrodite, Urania, Venus and Caelestis. A stone cube at Ta'if (near Mecca) was held sacred as part of her cult.

Uzzā, 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) Uzza also later appears in Ibn Ishaq's account of the Satanic Verses.

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[edit] At Petra

The first known mention of Uzza 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presiding goddess at Petra, the Nabataen capital, where she assimiliated with Isis, Tyche and Aphrodite attributes and superseded her sisters.[1] During the 5th century Christianity became the prominent religion of the region following conquest by Barsauma.[2]

[edit] Cult of Uzz

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 Uzzā among the Nabataeans at Petra have been interpreted to associate Uzzā with the planet Venus.

According to the Book of Idols (Kitāb al-Asnām) by Hišām b. al-Kalbī (N.A. Faris 1952, pp. 16-23)

Over her [an Arab] built a house called Buss in which the people used to receive oracular communications. The Arabs as well as the Quraysh were wont to name their children "ʕAbdu l-Uzzā". Furthermore, Uzzā was the greatest idol among the Quraysh. They used to journey to her, offer gifts unto her, and seek her favours through sacrifice [often of young children] (Jawad Ali, Al-Mufassal Fi Tarikh al-Arab Qabl al-Islam (Beirut), 6:238-9)].
The Quraysh were wont to circumambulate the Kaʕbat and say,
By al-Lāt and al-ʕuzzā,
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-Asnām offers additional detail on the "three exalted cranes." Ibn Ishaq 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 Kitāb al-Asnām 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 ʕuzzā was at a place called Nakhlah near Qudayd, east of Mecca towards Taif; three trees were sacred to her there (according to a narration through al-'Anazi Abū-ʕali in the Kitāb al-Asnām.)

She was the Lady ʕuzzayan to whom a South Arabian offered a golden image on behalf of his sick daughter, Amat-ʕuzzayan ("the Maid of ʕuzzayan"). ʕabdu l-ʕuzzā ["Slave of the Mightiest One"] was a favourite proper name at the rise of Islam. (Hitti 1937).

The name ʕuzzā appears as an emblem of beauty in late pagan Arabic poetry quoted by Ibn al-Kalbī, and oaths were sworn by her. [1]

ʕuzzā'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, ʕuzzā becoming associated with Isis and with Aphrodite [2]. Excavations at Petra since 1974 have revealed a temple, apparently dedicated to Isis/ʕuzzā, now named after some carvings found inside, the Temple of the Winged Lions (Hammond). Inscriptions record the name of ʕuzzā at Petra.

A fragment of poetry by Zayd ibn-'Amr ibn-Nufayl, quoted in the Kitāb al-Asnām, suggests that ʕuzzā; had two daughters:

No more do I worship ʕuzzā and her two daughters. [Arabic فلا العزى أدين ولا ابنتـيهـا.]

Muhammad Mohar Ali writes (2002):

The Arabs had developed a number of subsidiary Kaʕbat (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-ʕuzzā 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-Manāt, while al-ʕuzzā was "younger" than both al-Lāt and al-Manāt. But though al-ʕuzzā was thus the youngest of the three; it was nonetheless the most important and the greatest (ʕazam) idol with the Quraysh who, along with the Banū Kinānah, ministered to it.

On the authority of Abdullah ibn Abbas, Al-Tabari derived "al-Uzzā" from Al-Aziz (the Mighty), one of the 99 beautiful names of Allah, in his commentary on Qur'an 7:180 (Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi, The Book of Idols, 25). Al-Lāt is likewise said to have been derived from the very name Allāh.

[edit] ʕuzzā 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.

[edit] Links to India

Aditi Chaturvedi alleges, in "The Vedic past of Pre-Islamic Arabia," that Uzza is an Arab version of the Hindu deity Urja.

[edit] 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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5] Uzza 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.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jane Taylor, Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans, I.B.Tauris Publishers, 2001, ISBN 1860645089 pg. 130
  2. ^ Jane Taylor, Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans I.B.Tauris Publishers, 2001, ISBN 1860645089 pg. 209
  3. ^ Gustav Davidson, A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels, Scrollhouse, 1967 ISBN 002907052X pg. xiii, xxiv,
  4. ^ Gustav Davidson, A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels, Scrollhouse, 1967 ISBN 002907052X pg. 301
  5. ^ Gustav Davidson, A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels, Scrollhouse, 1967 ISBN 002907052X pg. 18, 65
  6. ^ Gustav Davidson, A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels, Scrollhouse, 1967 ISBN 002907052X pg. 4
  • 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
  • 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 [3]
  • 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
  • This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.


[edit] External links