This is Pre-Islamic Deity Idol in Arab, personally whenever I saw this Pagan Arab Goddess Idol, my mind picturizes this below loool.
I would leave this thing to the expert in this space. I won't trying to justify anything; Otherwise, People would label me as a Pseudo Hindutva RSS Fascist label. looool.
Anyways come to the Main Point.
Majority of the Indians often wondered why Ghazni Muhammad Destroyed the Somnath Temple, a Temple of Shiva in Gujrat????
According to the Historian Romila Thapar in 2004 she claims that an idol of Arab Pagan Goddess Manat had been secretly transferred to the Somnath temple.
According to the Ghaznavid court poet Farrukhi Sistani, who claimed to have accompanied Mahmud on his raid, Somnat (as rendered in Persian) was a garbled version of su-manat referring to the goddess Manat.
According to him as well as a later Ghaznavid historian Abu Sa’id Gardezi, the images of the other goddesses were destroyed in Arabia but the one of Manat was secretly sent away to Kathiawar (in modern Gujarat) for safe keeping. Since the idol of Manat was an iconic image of black stone, it could have been easily confused with a lingam at Somnath. Mahmud is said to have broken the idol and taken away parts of it as loot and placed as a Steps stair in front of Jama Masjid so that people would walk on it. In his letters to the Caliphate, Mahmud exaggerated the size, wealth and religious significance of the Somnath temple, receiving grandiose titles from the Caliph in return’.
An idol of her was also likely among the 360 idols in the Kaaba. According to Ibn al-Kalbi, when worshipers would circumambulate the Kaaba, they would chant her name along with that of her sisters, al-Lat and al-Uzza, seeking their blessings and interception.
Manat was also thought to watch over graves, as indicated by a tomb inscription reading
“And may Dushara and Manat and Qaysha curse anyone who sells this tomb or buys it or gives it in pledge or makes a gift of it or leases it or draws up for himself any document concerning it or buries in it anyone apart from the inscribed above”
- 1025: Somnath: Mahmud sacks the temple and is reported to have personally hammered the temple’s gilded Lingam to pieces, and the stone fragments are carted back to Ghazni, where they are incorporated into the steps of the city’s new Jama Masjid (Friday Mosque) in 1026. He places a new king on the throne in Gujarat as a tributary. His return detours across the Thar Desert to avoid the armies of Ajmer and other allies on his return.
Pre-Islamic Goddesses Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, Manat
Islamic sources indicate that Ghazni Muhammad believed that an Idol of Manat was spirited away to Somnath, India from Mecca when the idols at Mecca’s were destroyed at the behest of The Profit Mohmmad
Contrary to what we have been taught, Arabia indeed had Religion and street culture before the advent of The Prophet.
The Pre-Islamic Arabia had a Religion, and they had a Pantheon of Deities.
The Goddesses Al-Uzza, Al-Lat and Menat formed a triad in pre-Islamic Arabia. They were widely worshipped: from Nabatean Petra in the North to the legendary Kingdoms of Arabia Felix in the South, including Saba, the Biblical Sheba; as far east as Iran and Palmyra; and the three of them were very popular Goddesses in Mecca at the time of Mohammed.
From left they are: Al-Uzza, whose name means “The Mighty One”, the Goddess of the Morning Star; Al-Lat, the Mother, whose name means simply “The Goddess”, as Al-Lah simply means “The God”; and Manat, Crone-goddess of Fate or Time. Sometimes the three of them are referred to as the daughters of Al-Lah; sometimes Manat and Al-Lat are considered daughters of Al-Uzza
The pre-Islamic Arabs believed Manāt to be the goddess of fate. The followers prayed to her for rains and victory over enemies. She was considered the wife of Hubal.There are also connections with Chronos of Mithraism and Zurvan mythology.
The most ancient of all these idols was Manāt. The Arabs used to name [their children] ‘Abd-Manāt and Zayd-Manāt. Manāt 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 Manāt, sacrifice before her, and bring unto her their offerings… 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.
n 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 Manāt stood, shave their heads, and stay there a while. They did not consider their pilgrimage completed until they visited Manāt.
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Sources:
Thapar, Romila (2004), Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History, Penguin Books India, pp. 45–51, ISBN 1-84467-020-1
- Ibn al-Kalbī; (author) and Nabih Amin Faris (translator & commentary) (1952): The Book of Idols, Being a Translation from the Arabic of theKitāb al-Asnām. Princeton University Press. LCCN 52-6741.
- Grunebaum, G. E. von (1970). Classical Islam: A History 600 A.D. – 1258 A.D.. Aldine Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-202-15016-1.
— Book of Idols, pp 12–14
