Thread by @aaolomi

Arabia is the birthplace of Islam, but was also home to a diverse set of religious beliefs including a host of deities worshipped by various tribes.

A thread on pre-Islamic gods and goddesses of Arabia:

Al Manat was one of three chief goddesses of Mecca. The mistress of fate, the faithful would take oaths by her name.

She watched over graves and images of her could be found in stone and wood often covered in blood from sacrifice

Al Uzza was the second of the trio. A goddess of beauty and protection, her worshippers built a cube for her.

Along with Hubal she was invoked in divinations and oracles.

The third of the trio was Al Lat, whose cult extended as far as Palmyra. Some attribute her as a type of Aphrodite, but her statues often depict her as Minerva/Athena.

She is simultaneously Venusian and Lunar.

Stone edifices to her included lions and gazelles

These three are also mentioned in the Qur’an evidencing their popularity as the deities invoked in pre-Islamic rites at the Kaaba.

Hubal is often associated with the trio of goddesses. A favorite of the Quraysh tribe, he was a god of divination usually through sortilege of arrows.

A warrior deity, his idol was fashioned of red stone, likely agate or carnelian

Isaf and Naila were a god and goddess pair believed to have been turned to stone for committing adultery in the sacred shrine.

They share characteristics of Semitic fertility deities and part of their rites included running between hills representing them

Al Kutbay was the deity of scribes and intellect. Their idol was a sacred stone.

It is unclear whether Al Kutbay was a god or goddess, though evidence for a female goddess of intellect is compelling.

Al Kutbay is also found in Petra and generally invoked alongside Al Uzza

The fearsome Al Muharriq was an underworld deity venerated by the Banu Bakr bin Wa’il. A martial god, he was associated with hot winds that brought fever and plagues.

Under Islam he become a djinn of disease, though its unclear if he was one before who happened to be worshipped

Manaf was a deity favored by women, likely for fertility.

Women would caress Manaf’s statue

Wadd was the god of friendship and love in southern Arabia.

Magical inscriptions are found with his name and lunar iconography as perhaps part of binding sorcery.

His idol is described as a large man with double robes with spear and arrows

Snakes were sacred to him

Al Qaum was the Northern Arabian guardian deity of war and night.

He protected caravans

Dhul Khalasa was an oracular deity whose idol was a white stone before which divination was done

Amm was an ancient Yemeni lunar deity of weather.

His servant was the oracle god, Anbay who dispensed justice and oversaw legal matters

Guilt & innocence would be ascertained by divination through Anbay and his counterpart Hawkam

Anbay likely was related to the Babylonian Nabu

The Sabaean Almaqah was a bull headed deity of irrigation and agriculture.

His imagery included thunderbolts

He was related to the sun goddess Shams and his worship is also found in the Ethiopian Aksum

Shams was the southern Arabian goddess of the sun. Her northern counterpart is Nuha

She may have been the female representation of the Mesopotamian Shammash

Then there is Sa’d god of luck and fortune, his idol was a blood-stained tall stone

Dhat Badan was the gentle goddess of the oasis who offered sanctuary to the weary traveler.

Her scared site was the pool encircled by trees

There where hundreds upon hundreds of deities in pre-Islamic Arabia.

Most were unique to various tribes while there were some that were shared more broadly forming a core pantheon with diverse tribal expression

There likely was some notion of a High God above all

The deities were worshipped through sacred sites and idols of stone and wood, through blood sacrifices, oaths, offerings of food, invocations, pilgrimage & through oracles

While there may have been some custodian priest and priestess class, the Kahin or soothsayer looms large

The kahin was an augur and soothsayer who through possession of the gods or djinn would utter oracular rhyming verses foretelling the future

They may likely have also been healers and were consulted in a variety of different issues or for magic

Some of the deities became djinn with the coming of Islam, though the djinn also existed in pre-Islamic Arabia as a class of dangerous intermediary between deity and humankind

Some djinn were worshipped and others needed to be warded off