by them nicknamed the son of Abu Cabsha. The worship of this star is particularly hinted at in the Korân." Of the angels or intelligences which they worshipped, the KorânR makes mention only of three, which were worshipped under female names; Allat, al Uzza, and Manah. These were by them called goddesses, and the daughters of God; an appellation they gave not only to the angels, but also to their images, which they either believed to be inspired with life by God, or else to become the tabernacles of the angels, and to be animated by them; and they gave them divine worship, because they imagined they interceded for them with God. Allât was the idol of the tribe of Thakif who dwelt at Tayef, and had a temple consecrated to her in a place called Nakhlah. The idol al Mogheirah destroyed by Mohammed's order, who sent him and Abu Sofiân on that commission in the ninth year of Hejra.' The inhabitants of Taycf, especially the women, bitterly lamented the loss of this their deity, which they were so fond of, that they begged Mohammed, as a condition of peace, that it might not be destroyed for three years, and not obtaining that, asked only a month's respite; but he absolutely denied it. There are several derivations of this word, which the curious may learn from Dr. Pocock. It seems most probably to be derived from the same root with Allah, to which it may be a feminine, and will then signify the goddess. Al Uzza, as some affirm, was the idol of the tribes of Koreish and Kenanah, and part of the tribes of Salim 5 others tell us it was a tree called the Egyptian thorn, or Acacia, worshiped by the tribe of Ghatfân, first consecrated by one Dhâlem, who built a chapel over it, called Boss, so contrived as to give a sound when any person entered. Khâled Ebn Walid being sent by Mohammed in the eighth year of the Hejra, to destroy this idol, demolished the chapel, and cutting down this tree or image, burnt it he also slew the priestess, who ran out with her hair dishevel led, and her hands on her head as a suppliant. Yet the author who relates this, in another place says, the chapel was pulled down, and Dhâlem himself killed by one Zohair, because he consecrated this chapel with design to draw the pilgrims thither from Mecca, and lessen the reputation of the Kaaba. The name of this deity is derived from the root azza, and signifies the most mighty. Manah was the object of worship of the tribes of Hodhail and Khozâah, who dwelt between Mecca and Medina, and as some say, of the tribes of Aws, Khazraj, and Thakif also. This idol was a large stone, demolished by one Saad in the eighth year of the Hejra, a year so fatal to the idols of Arabia. The name seems to be derived from mana to flow, from the flowing of the blood of the victims sacrificed to the deity; whence the valley of Mina' near Mecca had also its name, where the pilgrims at this day slay their sacrifices. Before we proceed to the other idols, let us take notice of five more, which, with the former three, are all that the Korân mentions by name, and they are Wadd, Sawâ, Yaghûth, Yäûk, and Nasr. These are said to have been antediluvian idols, which Noah preached against, and were afterwards Ibid. Ibid. Poc. Spec. p. 132. * Cap. 53. Dr. Prideaux mentions this expedition, but names only Abu Sofiân, and mistaking the name of the idol for an appellative, supposes he went only to disarm the Tayefiens of their weapons and instruments of war. See his life of Moham. p. 98. Al Jauhari, apud eund. p. 91. Spec. p. 90. Firauzabâdi. ib. al Zamakhshari. Al Jauhari. Al Shahrestani, Abulfeda, Vit. Moham. p. 127. • Al Al Beidawi, taken by the Arabs for gods, having been men of great merit and piety in their time, whose statutes they reverenced at first with a civil honour only, which, in process of time, became heightened to a divine worship. Wadd was supposed to be the heaven, and was worshipped under the form of a man by the tribe of Calb in Daumat al Jandal. Sawa was adored under the shape of a woman, by the tribe of Hamadan, or, as others write, of Hodhail in Rohat. This idol, lying under water for some time after the deluge, was at length, it is said, discovered by the devil, and was worshipped by those of Hodhail, who instituted pilgrimages to it." Yaghûth was an idol in the shape of a lion, and was the deity of the tribe of Madhaj and others who dwelt in Yaman. Its name seems to be derived from ghatha, which signifies to help. Yaûk was worshipped by the tribe of Morâd, or according to others, by that of Hamadan, under the figure of a horse. It is said he was a man of great piety, and his death much regretted; whereupon the devil appeared to his friends in a human form, and undertaking to represent him to the life, persuaded them, by way of comfort, to place his effigies in their temples, that they might have it in view when at their devotions. This was done, and seven others of extraordinary merit had the same honours shown them, till at length their posterity made idols of them in earnest. The name Yäûk probably comes from the verb aka, to prevent or avert.1 Nasr was a deity adored by the tribe of Hamyar, or at Dhû'l Kalaah, in their territories, under the image of an eagle, which the name signifies. There are, or were, two statues at Bamiyân, a city of Cabul in the Indies, fifty cubits high, which some writers suppose to be the same with Yaghûth and Yäûk, or else with Manah and Allât; and they also speak of a third standing near the others, but something less, in the shape of an old woman, called Nesrem or Nesr. These statues were hollow within, for the secret giving of oracles; but they seem to have been different from the Arabian idols. There was also an idol at Sûmenat in the Indies, called Lât or al Lât, whose statue was fifty fathoms high, of a single stone, and placed in the midst of a temple supported by fifty-six pillars of massy gold: this idol Mahmûd Ebn Sebecteghin, who conquered that part of India, broke to pieces with his own hands.3 Besides the idols we have mentioned, the Arabs worshipped also great numbers of others, which would take up too much time to have distinct accounts given of them, and not being named in the Korân, are not so much to our present purpose: for besides that every housekeeper had his household god, or gods, which he last took leave of, and first saluted at his going abroad and returning home, there were no less than 360 idols, equalling in number the days of their year, in and about the Caaba of Mecca; the chief of whom was Hobal, brought from Belka in Syria, into Arabia, by Amru Ebn Lohai, pretending it would procure them rain when they wanted it. It was the statue of a man made of red agate, which having by some accident lost a hand, the Koreish repaired it with one of gold: he held in his hand seven arrows without heads or feathers, such as the Arabs used in divination. This idol is supposed to have been Al Jauhari. Al Jau* Shah. Korân, c. 71. Comment. Persic. Vide Hyde de rel. vet. Pers. p. 133. hari, al Shahrestani. Idem, al Firauzabâdi, and Safio'ddin. Al Firauzab. restani. Al Firauzabâdi. Poc. Spec. 94. 2 See Hyde de _re!. vet. Pers. p. 132. D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. p. 512. Al Mostatraf. nab. Availed. Shahrest. &c. Poc. Spec. 95. • Safio'ddin. 3 • Al Jan 1 the same with the image of Abraham,' found and destroyed by Mohammed in the Caaba, on his entering it, in the eighth year of the Hejra, when he took Mecca,' and surrounded with a great number of angels and prophets, as inferior deities; among whom, as some say, was Ismael with divining arrows in his hand also.2 Asâf and Nayelah, the former the image of a man, the latter of a woman, were also two idols brought with Hobal from Syria, and placed te one on mount Safâ, and the other on mount Merwa. They tell us Asâf was the son of Amru, and Nayelah the daughter of Sahâl, both of the tribe of Jorham, who committing whoredom together in the Caaba, were by God converted into stone, and afterwards worshipped by the Koreish, and so much reverenced by them, that though this superstition was condemned by Mohammed, yet he was forced to allow them to visit those mountains as monuments of divine justice. I shall mention but one idol more of this nation, and that was a lump of dough worshipped by the tribe of Hanîfa; who used it with more respect than the papists do theirs, presuming not to eat it till they were compelled to it by famine.5 Several of their idols, as Manah in particular, were no more than large rude stones, the worship of which the posterity of Ismael first introduced; for as they multiplied, and the territory of Mecca grew too strait for them, great numbers were obliged to seek new abodes; and on such migrations it was usual for them to take with them some of the stones of that reputed holy land, and set them up in the places where they fixed; and these stones they at first only compassed out of devotion, as they had accustomed to do the Caaba. But this at last ended in rank idolatry, the Ismaelites forgetting the religion left them by their father so far, as to pay divine worship to any fine stone they met with. Some of the pagan Arabs believed neither a creation past, nor a resurrection to come, attributing the origin of things to nature, and their dissolution to age. Others believed both; among whom were those, who when they died had their camel tied by their sepulchre, and so left without meat or drink to perish, and accompany them to the other world, lest they should be obliged, at the resurrection, to go on foot, which was reckoned very scandalous. Some believed a metempsychosis, and that of the blood near the dead person's brain, was formed a bird named Hâmah, which once in a hundred years visited the sepulchre; though others say, this bird is animated by the soul of him that is unjustly slain, and continually cries, "Oscûni, Oscûni," that is, "Give me to drink," meaning of the murderer's blood, till his death be revenged; and then it flies away. This was forbidden by Mohammed to be believed.s I might here mention several superstitious rites and customs of the ancient Arabs, some of which were abolished, and others retained by Mohammed; but I apprehend it will be more convenient to take notice of them hereafter occasionally, as the negative or positive precepts of the Korân, forbidding or allowing such practices, shall be considered. Let us now turn our view from the idolatrous Arabs, to those among them, who had embraced more rational religions. The Persians had, by their vicinity and frequent intercourse with the Arabians, introduced the Magian religion among some of their tribes, par Ebn al Athir. al Jannab. &c. Poc. Spec. 97. 1 Abulfeda. Poc. Spec. 98. Korân, cap. 2. Al Mostatraf, al Jauhari. Al Mostatraf. al Jannâbi. 'Abularag. p. 160. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 135. over both these dioceses, of Hira and Akula, and was immediately sub Ject to their patriarch. These were the principal religions which obtained among the ancient Arabs; but as freedom of thought was the natural consequence of their political liberty and independence, some of them fell into other different opinions. The Koreish, in particular, were infected with Zendicism,' an error supposed to have very near affinity with that of the Sadducees among the Jews, and, perhaps, not greatly different from deism; for there were several of that tribe, even before the time of Mohammed, who worshipped one God, and were free from idolatry,2 and yet embraced none of the other religions of the country. The Arabians before Mohammed were, as they yet are, divided into two sorts, those who dwell in cities and towns, and those who dwell in tents. The former lived by tillage, the cultivation of palm trees, breeding and feeding of cattle, and the exercise of all sorts of trades, particularly merchandizing, wherein they were very eminent, even in the time of Jacob. The tribe of Koreish were much addicted to commerce, and Mohammed, in his younger years, was brought up to the same business; it being customary for the Arabians to exercise the same trade that their parents did. The Arabs who dwelt in tents employed themselves in pasturage, and sometimes in pillaging of passengers; they lived chiefly on the milk and flesh of camels; they often changed habitations, as the convenience of water and of pasture for their cattle invited them, staying in a place no longer than that lasted, and then removing in search of other. They generally wintered in Irâk, and the confines of Syria. This way of life is what the greater part of Ismael's posterity have used, as more agreea ble to the temper and way of life of their father; and is so well described by a late author, that I cannot do better than refer the reader to his account of them. The Arabic language is undoubtedly one of the most ancient in the world, and arose soon after, if not at, the confusion of Babel. There were several dialects of it, very different from each other: the most remarkable were that spoken by the tribes of Hamyar and the other genuine Arabs, and that of the Koreish. The Hamyaritic seems to have approached nearer to the purity of the Syriac than the dialect of any other tribe; for the Arabs acknowledge their father Yarab to have been the first whose tongue devi ated from the Syriac (which was his mother tongue, and is almost gene. rally acknowledged by the Asiatics to be the most ancient) to the Arabic. The dialect of the Koreish is usually termed the pure Arabic, or, as the Korân, which is written in this dialect, calls it, the perspicuous and clear Arabic; perhaps, says Dr. Pocock, because Ismael, their father, brought the Arabic he had learned of the Jorhamites nearer to the original He brew. But the politeness and elegance of the dialect of the Koreish is rather to be attributed to their having the custody of the Caaba, and dwelling in Mecca, the centre of Arabia; as well more remote from intercourse with foreigners, who might corrupt their language, as frequented by the Arabs from the country all around, not only on a religious account, but also for the composing of their differences, from whose discourse and verses • Vide Assemani Bibl. Orient. T. 2. in Dissert. de Monophysitis; and p. 459. A A: Mostatraf, apud Poc. Spec. p. 136. 2 Vide Reland. de Relig. Moham. p. 270, and Millium de Mohammedismo ante Moham. p. 311. These seem to be the saine whou M. La Roque calls Moors. Voy. dans la Palestine, p. 110. See Prideaux's Life of Moham. p. 6. Strabo, lib. 16. p. 1129. Ib. lib. 16, p. 1084. La Roque. Voyage dans la Palestine, p. 109, &c. |