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69-516: There are many Romanized spelling variants of the name. The element نور can be spelled Nur , Noor , Nor , Nour or Nuer. The element دين can be spelled either Din , Deen or Dine . The definite article in front of the " sun letter " d is realized only as a gemination /dː/, the Arabic pronunciation being /nuːrudːiːn/. Syntactically, the name is an iḍāfah ( genitive construction ), in full vocalization nūru d-dīni . Consequently, depending on

138-464: A kasra , it would have been confused with the genitival particle. It could not have been given a ḍamma for fear of the following vowel being a kasra or ḍamma (which would result in awkward pronunciations as in لإبل * lu-ibil or لعنق * lu-‘unuq ). Despite the myriad of proofs for the argument, in most classical grammars and in modern Arabic, the opinion of Sibawayh is often taken as an axiomatic fact. There are many proofs and counterproofs, but

207-500: A proto-Semitic antecedent. There are three major possibilities regarding the form of the proto-Semitic particle that is the putative antecedent of al -: David Testen and Jacob Weingreen state that هل۔ / הל־ hal is the correct antecedent. Often cited is the Arabic word for 'this', هذا hādhā , which, when combined with a definite phrase, has been known to become shortened from هذا البيت hādhā al-bayt (this house) to هلبيت hal-bayt . However, hal-bayt may merely be

276-513: A 1st-century BC inscription in Qaryat al-Faw (formerly Qaryat Dhat Kahil, near Sulayyil , Saudi Arabia ), occurs in the 5th century BC, in the epithet of a goddess which Herodotus ( Histories I: 131, III: 8) quotes in its preclassical Arabic form as Alilat (Ἀλιλάτ, i. e., ʼal-ʼilat ), which means "the goddess". While the Proto-Semitic language did not have any articles,

345-469: A few others, it assimilates to that sound, thus doubling it. For example: for "the Nile", one does not say al-Nīl , but an-Nīl . When followed by a moon letter , like m- , there is no assimilation: al-masjid ("the mosque"). This affects only the pronunciation and not the spelling of the article. To put al - into perspective, there are many ways in which Arabic words can be made definite . These include

414-627: A lion and a gazelle, the lion representing her consort, and the gazelle representing al-Lat's tender and loving traits, as bloodshed was not permitted under penalty of al-Lat's retaliation. Al-Lat was associated with the Greek goddess Athena (and by extension, the Roman Minerva ) in Nabataea , Hatra , and Palmyra . It seems that her identification with Athena was only a mere change in iconography, and al-Lat's character noticeably softened

483-553: A man who grinds cereal ( al-latt , "the grinder"). The stone was used as a base for the man (a Jew) to grind cereal for the pilgrims of Mecca . While most versions of this legend place the man at Ta'if, other versions place him at either Mecca or 'Ukaz. After the man's death, the stone, or the man in the form of a stone, was deified, according to some legends after the Khuza'a drove the Jurhum out of Mecca, while other legends report it

552-576: A northern Arabian tribal confederation, seemed to have also worshipped al-Lat, as evidenced by a silver bowl dedicated by a Qedarite king, with the goddess' name inscribed on it. The Nabataeans and the people of Hatra also worshipped al-Lat, equating her with the Greek goddesses Athena and Tyche and the Roman goddess Minerva . She is frequently called "the Great Goddess" in Greek in multilingual inscriptions. The Nabataeans regarded al-Lat as

621-411: A process of syncope so the alif in lā and the vowel over the lām were dropped, resulting in a sukūn (an Arabic diacritic) over the lām , and a volatile or elidable hamza was added to compensate for that. David Testen argues against both of these explanations. He says that there is no corroboratory evidence for either metathesis or syncope. It is possible that al - comes from the same root as

690-533: A separate deity in the Meccan pantheon. Redefining Dionysos considers she might have been a deity of vegetation or a celestial deity of atmospheric phenomena and a sky deity. According to Wellhausen, the Nabataeans believed al-Lat was the mother of Hubal (and hence the mother-in-law of Manāt ). It has been hypothesized that Allah was the consort of al-Lat, given that it is typical of deities in that area of

759-565: A shortening of the demonstrative pronoun. Weingreen also states that the original form of the Hebrew ha- was in fact hal . Hebrew, then, dropped the final l to achieve ha - while Arabic softened the h - to a hamza, resulting in al -. However, there is no evidence supporting the existence of hal from ancient Hebrew texts. In fact, as early as the 6th century BC both han and al were being used simultaneously in different Arabic dialects, namely Northern and Central. The Arabic word hādhā

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828-512: A similar ritual was practiced in the vicinity of the image of al-Lat. The second proposed etymology takes al-Lat to be the feminine form of Allah . She may have been known originally as ʾal-ʾilat , based on Herodotus' attestation of the goddess as Alilat . Al-Lat was used as a title for the goddess Asherah or Athirat . The word is akin to Elat , which was the name of the wife of the Semitic deity El . A western Semitic goddess modeled on

897-415: A specific lion, or ‘the lion’ in the sense ‘the lion is a dangerous animal’. Notice that the meaning connoted by this function of al - is indefinite, which is in stark contrast with the primary function of the definite article. Because of this meaning, the noun following al - can be grammatically indefinite and one may, for example, modify the noun without the use of a relative pronoun. An example of this

966-405: A thousand? If there are as many as you claim, I renounce al-Lat and al-Uzza, both of them, as any strong-minded person would. I will not worship al-Uzza and her two daughters… I will not worship Hubal, though he was our lord in the days when I had little sense. Al-Lat was also called as a daughter of Allah along with the other two chief goddesses al-'Uzza and Manat . According to

1035-410: Is a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess , at one time worshipped under various associations throughout the entire Arabian Peninsula , including Mecca , where she was worshipped alongside Al-Uzza and Manat as one of the daughters of Allah . The word Allat or Elat has been used to refer to various goddesses in the ancient Near East , including the goddess Asherah-Athirat . She also is associated with

1104-519: Is actually pronounced " ar-rajul ". Notice that the lām is written but not pronounced. In more modern dialects, the sun letters have been extended to include the velars gīm and kāf. The ancient people of Himyar replace the lām in al - with mīm. The Islamic prophet Muhammad is recorded to have uttered the following words in that dialect: لَيْسَ مِن امْبِرِّ امْصِيامُ في امْسَفَرِ Laysa min am -birr-i am -ṣiyām-u fī am -safar-i In some Semitic languages like Hebrew, words that include

1173-399: Is always prefixed to another word and never stands alone. Consequently, many dictionaries do not list it, and it is almost invariably ignored in collation , as it is not an intrinsic part of the word. Al- does not inflect for gender , number or grammatical case . The sound of the final -l consonant, however, can vary; when followed by a sun letter such as t , d , r , s , n and

1242-441: Is equivalent to the Hebrew word זה zé . It appears that over time Hebrew shortened the demonstrative pronoun hazé ( eikh korím layéled hazé ? or What's this boy's name?) to simply zé . That indicates that the Hebrew ha- was the accurate retention of the original proto-Semitic source, as opposed to al- , which cannot conclusively be linked to the ancient cognate demonstrative pronoun hādhā/hazé . According to Jacob Barth, who

1311-453: Is necessary that it be interchangeable with the word كل kull 'all, every'. Some classical grammarians assert that this kull may be figurative, in which case al -, in this capacity, would be a form of exaggeration . The most well known use of al - in this meaning occurs twice in the Qur'anic verse 1:1, الحمد لله رب العالمين (all praise is due to Allah, lord of all the worlds). Al -

1380-452: Is no further purpose for it. Khalīl further argues that the only reason the hamza in al - is ever dropped is not that it is volatile but that it is used too much. When asked why the lām in al - was not simply given a vowel if it is so heavily used and it needs to be easier to pronounce, followers of Khalīl said that if the lām had been given a fatḥa , it would have been confused with the asseverative-cum-precative particle. Had it been given

1449-509: Is no use for the al -. Al - is perpetually and necessarily attached to this word in most Arabic dialects. Thus its purpose is not a lexical or grammatical one, but a rhetorical one. In the above example, the extra al - is necessary. There are other cases where it is extra but not necessary. An example is in the following phrase: Al-l%C4%81t al-Lat ( Arabic : اللات , romanized :  al-Lāt , pronounced [alːaːt] ), also spelled Allat , Allatu , and Alilat ,

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1518-406: Is often used in words to indicate the presence of something. For example, اليوم “al-yawm” means ‘this day’ i.e. ‘today’. In modern Arabic, this function is largely idiomatic and does not carry over to new words. Al - may be prefixed to names that are derived from Arabic nouns. This function is known as لمح الصفة lamḥ aṣ-ṣifah . The purpose of doing this is to point toward the meaning of

1587-418: Is seen in the following couplet of poetry: Al - may be used to encompass all the individuals of a genus ( Arabic : استغراق الجِنس ). For example, الأسد “al-asad” can be used to mean ‘all lions’. This function is called استغراق istighrāq . One is encouraged to use caution when employing this form of al - as it may be confused with its other meanings. In order for al - to be in this capacity, it

1656-419: Is that of Sibawayh (d. ca. 797), who considers the hamza volatile. In his opinion, the hamza neither is part of al - nor contributes to the definiteness of the following word. Khalīl, Ibn Keisān and Akhfash, on the other hand, consider the hamza not to be volatile. There is a further debate among the proponents of the second theory. Some do not consider the hamza volatile and assert that it contributes to

1725-505: Is the definite article in the Arabic language : a particle ( ḥarf ) whose function is to render the noun on which it is prefixed definite. For example, the word كتاب kitāb "book" can be made definite by prefixing it with al- , resulting in الكتاب al-kitāb "the book". Consequently, al- is typically translated as " the " in English. Unlike most other Arabic particles, al-

1794-625: Is the Latinized form of the theophoric name Wahballāt ("Gift of al-Lat"), began to use Athenodorus as the Greek form of his name. In Islamic sources discussing pre-Islamic Arabia , al-Lat is attested as the chief goddess of the Banu Thaqif tribe. She was said to be venerated in Ta'if , where she was called ar-Rabba ("The Lady"), and she reportedly had a shrine there that was decorated with ornaments and treasure of gold and onyx . There,

1863-408: Is volatile, that is required. An example is in the phrase بِئْسَ الإسْمُ bi’sa al-ismu . The phrase is read as بِئْسَ الاِسْمُ " bi’sa lismu " (Qur'an 49:11). The rule relates to hamza and is not in direct relation to al -. Moreover, it is a rare occurrence and is almost never applied in spoken varieties of modern or classical Arabic. Al - has been recorded to separate from its host word as in

1932-581: The Banu Thaqif converted to Islam , and that her temple was "burnt to the ground". In the Quran , she is mentioned along with al-‘Uzza and Manat in Quran 53:19–22 , which became the subject of the alleged Satanic Verses incident, an occasion on which the Islamic prophet Muhammad had mistaken the words of "satanic suggestion" for divine revelation. Many different versions of the story existed (all traceable to one single narrator Muhammad ibn Ka'b, who

2001-627: The Book of Idols , the Quraysh were to chant the following verses as they circumambulated the Kaaba: By al-Lat and al-'Uzza, And Manat, the third idol besides. Verily they are the gharaniq Whose intercession is to be sought. The word gharaniq was translated as "most exalted females" by Faris in his English translation of the Book of Idols , but he annotates this term in a footnote as "lit. Numidean cranes". According to Islamic tradition,

2070-692: The Great Goddess . The worship of al-Lat is attested in South Arabian inscriptions as Lat and Latan , but she had more prominence in north Arabia and the Hejaz , and her cult reached as far as Syria . The writers of the Safaitic script frequently invoked al-Lat in their inscriptions. She was also worshipped by the Nabataeans and was associated with al-'Uzza. The presence of her cult

2139-620: The Persians Mithra . According to Herodotus, the ancient Arabians believed in only two deities: They believe in no other gods except Dionysus and the Heavenly Aphrodite; and they say that they wear their hair as Dionysus does his, cutting it round the head and shaving the temples. They call Dionysus, Orotalt ; and Aphrodite , Alilat . Al-Lat was widely worshipped in north Arabia, but in South Arabia she

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2208-505: The al - while others will ignore it. Al - is sometimes prefixed to words without giving any grammatical benefit. This may occur in poetry, in which case the purpose may be to maintain metre, rhythm, or rhyme. It may also occur elsewhere to give a rhetorical benefit. For example, the al - attached to the relative pronoun الذي al-ladhī (that/which/etc) is considered to be extra ( Arabic : زائدة , romanized :  zāʾidah ), because relative pronouns are already definite and there

2277-597: The pre-Islamic Meccan tradition . Susan Krone suggests that both al-Lat and al-'Uzza were uniquely fused in central Arabia. Al-Lat was also venerated in Palmyra , where she was known as the "Lady of the temple". According to an inscription, she was brought into the Arab quarter of the city by a member of the Bene Ma'zin tribe, who were probably an Arab tribe. She had a temple in the city, which Teixidor believed to be

2346-429: The Arabic al - was thus a result of a dissimilation process. In Arabic, this gemination occurs when the word to which al - is prefixed begins with one of the fourteen sun letters . Twelve of these letters (including lām) are originally designed to geminate. Ḍād and shīn have been included due to their similarities in pronunciation with lām and ţā, respectively. For example, the word الرجل al-rajul 'the man'

2415-628: The Mesopotamian goddess Ereshkigal was known as Allatum , and she was recognized in Carthage as Allatu . The goddess Allat's name is recorded as: Al-Lat was mentioned as Alilat by the Greek historian Herodotus in his fifth-century BC work Histories , and she was considered the equivalent of Aphrodite ( Aphrodite Urania ): The Assyrians call Aphrodite Mylitta , the Arabians Alilat [Greek spelling: Ἀλιλάτ], and

2484-501: The angel Gabriel chastised Muhammad for uttering that line, and the verses were abrogated with a new revelation: Are yours the males and His the females? That were indeed an unfair division! The majority of Muslim scholars have rejected the historicity of the incident on the basis of the theological doctrine of 'isma (prophetic infallibility i.e., divine protection of Muhammad from mistakes) and their weak isnads (chains of transmission). Due to its defective chain of narration,

2553-429: The asseverative-cum-precative particle, لـَ la- ; it is the la- used at the beginning of nominal sentences for emphasis. The phonology of al - is the study of its constituent letters and vowels , and of its pronunciation in different dialects and in different lexical circumstances. A classical (and largely one-sided) debate in regards to al - is whether the hamza is volatile or not. The majority opinion

2622-406: The classical book of Arabic grammar written by Sibawayh. Whenever grammarians talk about "the book", this is what they mean and it is always understood without explanation. One of the functions of al - is to render the noun onto which it is prefixed a class noun ( Arabic : اِسْم جِنس , romanized :  ism jins ). For example, the word الأسد “al-asad” can mean ‘the lion’, referring to

2691-594: The cultic center of Palmyrene Arab tribes. The practice of casting divination arrows, a common divination method in Arabia , was attested in her temple; an honorific inscription mentioning "a basin of silver for [casting] lots ( lḥlq )". By the second-century AD, al-Lat in Palmyra began to be portrayed in the style of Athena , and was referred to as "Athena-Allāt", but this assimilation does not extend beyond her iconography. The Palmyrene emperor Vaballathus , whose name

2760-410: The definite article. For example, if one vocalizes the word البيت 'the house' after a pause, it will be pronounced "al-bayt". In fact, the hamza in al - is largely considered to be the only volatile hamza that has a fatḥa vowel. If, however, al - is vocalized in the middle of speech, the hamza will be dropped in pronunciation. As a result, the vowel preceding the definite article will be linked to

2829-452: The definiteness of the following word. Others assert that the hamza contributes to the definiteness of the following word but is still volatile. In his defence, Khalīl argues that when a word prefixed with al - is preceded by the interrogative hamza, the two hamzas mix. For example, when the word الآن al-āna (now) is prefixed with it, the result is آلآن āl-āna . Clearly, the hamza of al - does not drop in this case even though there

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2898-403: The following couplet: The al - in بذال has been recorded both with and without the alif. It has been stripped from its host word شحم because of the meter of the couplet. It has then been repeated in the second half of the couplet reattached to its host. This happened very rarely and, even then, has been recorded only in poetry. The primary and most profuse function of al - is to render

2967-433: The following word definite. Consequently, it turns out that the hamza in al - is considered the only volatile hamza in the language that has a fatḥa vowel. In very early Semitic languages, definiteness was achieved through gemination of the first letter in a word. For example, the word kitāb would be made definite by ak-kitāb . An additional benefit of this construction was to connote "determination". The lām in

3036-433: The following word definite. This is known as تعريف العهد   taʿrīf al-ʿahd . This function is of two types: There is also a special type of ḏihniyy known as "the al - for غلبة   ḡalabah ”. The noun on which the al - is prefixed, in this case, is never explicitly mentioned but the listener knows what is being referred to. For example, the word الكتاب al-kitāb (the book) may actually refer to

3105-503: The goddess was venerated in the form of a cubic granite rock. The area around the shrine was considered sacred; no trees could be felled, no animal could be hunted, and no human blood could be shed. According to al-Kalbi 's Book of Idols , her shrine was under the guardianship of the Banū Attāb ibn Mālik of the Banu Thaqif . She was also venerated by other Arab tribes , including the Quraysh , and their children would be named after

3174-431: The goddess, such as Zayd al-Lat and Taym al-Lat . Al-Lat is also mentioned in pre-Islamic Arab poetry, such as in al-Mutalammis ' satire of Amr ibn Hind : Thou hast banished me for fear of lampoon and satire. No! By Allat and all the sacred baetyls (ansab) thou shalt not escape. A poem by the pre-Islamic monotheist Zayd ibn Amr mentions al-Lat, along with al-'Uzza and Hubal : Am I to worship one lord or

3243-432: The letter lāmed have Arabic cognates that replace it with a Mīm as opposed to Lām, the equivalent letter. For example, skull in Hebrew is גֻּלְגֹּלֶת (gulgolet). Its Arabic cognate is جمجمة ( jumjúmah ). This gives plausibility to the case of Banū Ḥimiar and indicates that lām is frequently equated with Mīm. Regardless of whether the hamza in al - is volatile or not, it is read with a fatḥa when beginning speech with

3312-430: The lām of al -. For example, بابُ البيت (vocalized without any pauses) is pronounced "bābu l-bayt", بابَ البيت is pronounced "bāba l-bayt", and بابِ البيت is pronounced "bābi l-bayt". If the word onto which al - is prefixed starts with a hamza, the vowel from that hamza may transfer to the lām of al - after which the hamza not be pronounced. See Allah in "Arabic definite article" for an example. If this hamza

3381-408: The man being referred to as clearly as saying "this man", for example. Arabic has an indefinite article indicated by nunation ( tanwīn ) which is declined for three cases. The etymology of al - is the study of how it developed and how it changed over time. There are several major opinions in regards to the origins of the Arabic definite article. The earliest evidence of the article, besides

3450-671: The most likely theory is that the article al - comes from the same proto-Semitic source as the Hebrew definite article ה־ ha- . That theory is based primarily on the fact that the two share many similarities. Both particles are prefixed to nouns, and both geminate with certain following letters. Moreover, neither particle is prefixed to non- final nouns in a genitival construction . Finally, both are prefixed to relative clauses. According to David Testen, many northern and southwestern Semitic languages have particles that bear similarities to al -. With this fact, he posits that al - has

3519-563: The mother of the deities, and her family relations vary; sometimes she is regarded as the consort of Dushara and at other times as the mother of Dushara. Nabataean inscriptions call her and al-'Uzza the "brides of Dushara ". A temple was built for al-Lat in Iram of the Pillars , by the tribe of ʿĀd . Al-Lat was referred to as "the goddess who is in Iram" in a Nabataean inscription. She

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3588-510: The name of a man from Gerrha , a city located in the region. From Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions, it is probable that she was worshipped as Lat ( lt ). In Safaitic inscriptions, al-Lat was invoked for solitude and mercy, as well as to provide well-being, ease and prosperity. Travelers would invoke her for good weather and protection. She was also invoked for vengeance, booty from raids, and infliction of blindness, and lameness to anyone who defaces their inscriptions. The Qedarites ,

3657-472: The one named. For example, the name عادل ‘Adil (meaning 'just') may be read العادل " al-‘Adil " to allude to the fact that ‘Adil is a just person. In modern Arabic, however, this type of al - is largely idiomatic. That is to say, names traditionally prefixed with al - are kept as such and names without al - are also kept as such; the connotation of this al - is ignored. When it comes to alphabetic ordering , some sources will list names according to

3726-470: The orders of Muhammad . There are two possible etymologies of the name al-Lat . Medieval Arab lexicographers derived the name from the verb latta (to mix or knead barley-meal). It has also been associated with the "idol of jealousy" erected in the temple of Jerusalem according to the Book of Ezekiel , which was offered an oblation of barley-meal by the husband who suspected his wife of infidelity. It can be inferred from al-Kalbi 's Book of Idols that

3795-449: The overarching argument in favour of this opinion is as follows: The lām in al - is the only lām particle in the language with a sukūn (to avoid confusion, as mentioned). Thus, it requires a volatile hamza. Moreover, al - is a particle, and Arabic particles do not drop letters (without losing their meanings or connotations). Yet the hamza in al - drops all the time. Therefore, it must be volatile, or al - would lose its ability to render

3864-547: The pair of baetyls were finally removed and placed at Jabal as-Safa'a and Jabal al-Marwah in Mecca. F. V. Winnet saw al-Lat as a lunar deity due to association of a crescent with her in 'Ayn esh-Shallāleh and a Lihyanite inscription mentioning the name of Wadd over the title of ' fkl lt . René Dussaud and Gonzague Ryckmans linked her with Venus, while others have thought her to be a solar deity. John F. Healey considers al-Uzza might have been an epithet of al-Lat before becoming

3933-504: The primordial couple (sic Adam & Eve the so called ancestors of the human race) most likely pre-existed this cautionary tale promulgated by Islam. Furthermore, Isaf and Na'ila played a central role in the Quraish and al-Khuza'a's ritual practice of hierogamy or 'sacred marriage' culminating in a communal wedding feast 'walima'. This joyful event took place every year during the mid-winter month of Dhu'l Hijjah on and around Mt. Arafat until

4002-645: The shrine dedicated to al-Lat in Ta'if was demolished on the orders of Muhammad , during the Expedition of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb , in the same year as the Battle of Tabuk (which occurred in October 630 AD). The destruction of the cult image was a demand by Muhammad before he would allow any reconciliation to take place with the tribes of Ta'if, who were under his siege. According to the Book of Idols , this occurred after

4071-525: The system of Romanization, the definite article can be rendered as al , ad , ud , ed or d . Among the variant romanized spellings in common use are Nuraddin , Nureddin , Noureddin , Noureddine , Nooradeen , Nordeen , Nourdin , Noordine , Nordine , Nuradin , Nurdin , Nooruldeen ; scientific transliterations are Nur ad-Din , Nur-ud-Din , Nur al-Din , etc. Al- Al- ( Arabic : ٱلْـ , also romanized as el- , il- , and l- as pronounced in some varieties of Arabic ),

4140-549: The tradition of the Satanic Verses never made it into any of the canonical hadith compilations, though reference and exegesis about the Verses appear in early histories, such as al-Tabari 's Tārīkh ar-Rusul wal-Mulūk and Ibn Ishaq 's Sīrat Rasūl Allāh (as reconstructed by Alfred Guillaume ). Various legends about her origins were known in medieval Islamic tradition, including one that linked al-Lat's stone with

4209-410: The use of personal pronouns like "me", the use of proper nouns like "Saudi Arabia", demonstrative pronouns like "this man", relative pronouns like "the man who ...", vocation like "O man", possession like "my man", and of course the definite article like "the man". Apart from possession, prefixing a noun with al - is the weakest form of definiteness. That is, saying "the man" does not define

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4278-761: The warlike Athena in places where she was equated with al-Lat. One Nabataean relief of Athena-al-Lat depicts the goddess bearing both Athena and al-Lat's attributes. The relief depicts the goddess in the style of Athena, but having a Nabataean religion stylized eye- betyl in place of the Gorgoneion . Al-Lat can also be identified with the Babylonian goddess Ishtar , with both of the deities taking part in prosperity, warfare, and later being linked to Aphrodite and Athena. The two's similarities also appeared in their symbols, as both were associated with lions, morning star, and crescents. Like Al-Lat, Ishtar's origin

4347-495: The world to have consorts. In Ta'if, al-Lat's primary cult image was a cubic stone, sometimes described as white in color. Waqidi 's mention of the 'head' ( ra's ) of ar-Rabba may imply that the image was perceived in human or animal form, although Julius Wellhausen resisted this implication. Early Palmyrene depictions of al-Lat share iconographical traits with Atargatis (when seated) and Astarte (when standing). The Lion of Al-Lat that once adorned her temple depicts

4416-508: Was Amr ibn Luhayy who deified the grinder. Michael Cook noticed the oddity of this story, as it would make al-Lat masculine. Gerald Hawting believes the various legends that link al-Lat with that of al-latt , "the grinder", was an attempt to relate al-Lat with Mecca. He also compared the legends to Isaf and Na'ila , who according to legend were a man and a woman who fornicated inside the Kaaba and were petrified. These two stones representing

4485-580: Was also referred to as "the goddess who is in Bosra ". Perhaps a local Hijazi form of her attested in Hegra alongside Dushara and Manat was "Allat of 'Amnad". Al-Lat was closely related to al-'Uzza , and in some regions of the Nabataean kingdom , both al-Lat and al-'Uzza were said to be the same goddess. John F. Healey believes that al-Lat and al-'Uzza originated as a single goddess, which parted ways in

4554-466: Was attested in both Palmyra and Hatra . Under Greco-Roman influence, her iconography began to show the attributes of Athena , the Greek goddess of war, as well as her Roman equivalent Minerva . According to Islamic sources, the tribe of Banu Thaqif in Ta'if especially held reverence to her. In Islamic tradition , her worship ended in the seventh century when her temple in Ta'if was demolished on

4623-550: Was lecturer in Hebrew at the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary , al - comes directly from the Arabic negating particle, لا lā. He conjectures that lā became al - through a process of metathesis . That is to say, the lām and the alif swapped positions. It is noteworthy that the negation denoted by lā and the definiteness denoted by al - are in stark contrast to each other. Barth also asserts that lā could have resulted in al - through

4692-457: Was not popular and was not the object of an organized cult, with two amulets (inscribed "Lat" on one, "Latan" on the other) being the only indication that this goddess received worship in the area. However, she seems to have been popular among the Arab tribes bordering Yemen . She was also attested in eastern Arabia ; the name Taymallat (a theophoric name invoking the goddess) was attested as

4761-457: Was two generations removed from biographer Ibn Ishaq). In its essential form, the story reports that during Muhammad 's recitation of Surat An-Najm, when he reached the following verses: Have you thought of al-Lāt and al-‘Uzzá and Manāt , the third, the other? Satan tempted him to utter the following line: These are the exalted gharāniq, whose intercession is hoped for. (In Arabic تلك الغرانيق العلى وإن شفاعتهن لترتجى.) Following this,

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