Manah
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Mentioned in the Qur'an (Sura 53:20), Manāh was one of the three chief goddesses of Mecca. According to the Book of Idols (Kitab al-Asnām) by Hishām b. al-Kalbi, the pre-Islamic Arabs believed Manāh to be the goddess of fate and the oldest of the three "daughters of God". She was known as Manawat to the Nabataeans, who equated her with the Graeco-Roman goddess Nemesis and she was considered the wife of Hubal (Hommel, First Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. 1. p. 380 (http://voi.org/books/htemples2/ch11.htm).)
B. al-Kalbi writes (N.A. Faris 1952, pp.12-14):
- The most ancient of all these idols was Manāh. The Arabs used to name [their children] 'Abd-Manāh and Zayd-Manāh. Manāh 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 the inhabitants of Medina and Mecca and their vicinities, used to venerate Manāh, sacrifice before her, and bring unto her their offerings.
He also wrote regarding the traditional practices of the Arab pilgrimmage to Mecca:
- that the Aws and the Khazraj, as well as those Arabs among the people of Yathrib and other places who took to their way of life, were wont to go on pilgrimage and observe the vigil at all the appointed places, but not shave their heads. At the end of the pilgrimage, however, when they were about to return home, they would set out to the place where Manāh stood, shave their heads, and stay there a while. They did not consider their pilgrimage completed until they visited Manāh. Because of this veneration of Manah by the Aws and the Khazraj, 'Abd al-'Uzza ibn-Wadi'ah al-Muzani, or some other Arab, said:
- "An oath, truthful and just, I swore
- By Manāh, at the sacred place of the Khazraj.
The Book of Idols also records:
- The Quraysh as well as the rest of the Arabs continued to venerate Manāh until the Apostle of God set out from Medina the the eighth year of the Hijrah, the year in which God accorded him the victory. When he was at a distance of four or five nights from Medina, he dispatched 'Ali to destroy her. 'Ali demolished her, took away all her [treasures], and carried them back to the Prophet. Among the treasures which 'Ali carried away were two swords which had been presented to [Manāh] by al-Harith ibn-Abi-Shamir al-Ghassāni, the king of Ghassān. The one sword was called Mikhdham and the other Rasūb. [...] The Prophet gave these two swords to 'Ali. It is, therefore, said that Dhu'l Faqār, the sword of 'Ali, was one of them.
Reference
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
External links
- Book of the Idols (http://answering-islam.org.uk/Books/Al-Kalbi/manah.htm)