Tafseer of The Star · An-Najm · 53:19
So have you considered al-Lat and al-'Uzza?
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The statement concerning the explanation of His word, the Exalted: أَفَرَأَيْتُمُ اللاتَ وَالْعُزَّى (19) ("Have you then seen al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā?")
He, exalted is His mention, says: Have you then, O polytheists (mushrikīn), seen al-Lāt — and it is derived from [the Name] Allāh; they added the tāʾ to it and made it feminine, just as one says ʿAmr for the masculine form and ʿAmra for the feminine; and as one says ʿAbbās for the masculine form, and then ʿAbbāsa for the feminine. In the same way the polytheists named their idols with the names of Allah, the Exalted and hallowed be His names, so they said al-Lāt derived from Allāh, and al-ʿUzzā from al-ʿAzīz; and they claimed that these were daughters of Allah — exalted is Allah above what they say and invent. Then He said, exalted is His praise, to them: Have you then, O you who claim that al-Lāt, al-ʿUzzā, and Manāt, the third, are daughters of Allah, ( أَلَكُمُ الذَّكَرُ ) — "is the male for you?" — He says: do you choose for yourselves the male among the children and disdain the female for [Allah], and do you assign ( َلَهُ الأنْثَى ) — "to Him the female," that which does not please you for yourselves, but which you even kill out of aversion to them?
The reciters differed concerning the reading of His word ( اللاتَ ). Most of the reciters of the cities read it with a light (unstrengthened) tāʾ, in accordance with the meaning that I have described. And it is mentioned that al-Lāt was a building at Nakhla which the Quraysh worshipped. And some of them said: it was at al-Ṭāʾif.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda ( أَفَرَأَيْتُمُ اللاتَ وَالْعُزَّى ) as for al-Lāt, it was at al-Ṭāʾif.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word ( أَفَرَأَيْتُمُ اللاتَ وَالْعُزَّى ) he said: al-Lāt was a building at Nakhla which the Quraysh worshipped.
And Ibn ʿAbbās, Mujāhid, and Abū Ṣāliḥ read "al-Lātt" with a doubled (strengthened) tāʾ, and they understood it as a designation for the idol which they worshipped, and they said: he was a man who used to knead the gruel (sawīq) for the pilgrims; when he died, they devoted themselves to his grave and worshipped it.
* Mention of the report concerning that from who said it:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid ( أَفَرَأَيْتُمُ اللاتَّ وَالْعُزَّى ) he said: he used to knead the gruel for the pilgrims, and people devoted themselves to his grave.
He said: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid ( أَفَرَأَيْتُمُ اللاتَّ ) he said: al-Lāt: he used to knead the gruel for the pilgrims.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid "al-Lātt" he said: he used to knead the gruel, and then he died, and they devoted themselves to his grave.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word "al-Lātt" he said: a man who used to knead the gruel for the polytheists; then he died, and they devoted themselves to his grave.
Aḥmad ibn Hishām related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, concerning His word "al-Lātt" he said: al-Lātt was the one who oversaw their gods and kneaded the gruel for them, and it was at al-Ṭāʾif.
Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related to me, saying: Abū ʿUbayd related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, on the authority of Abū al-Ashhab, on the authority of Abū al-Jawzāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: he used to knead the gruel for the pilgrims.
And the more correct of the two readings, in our view concerning that, is the reading of the one who read it with a light tāʾ, in accordance with the meaning that I have thus described for its reciter, because of the consensus of the authoritative proof of the reciters of the cities concerning it.
As for al-ʿUzzā: the exegetes differed concerning it. Some of them said: they were small trees which they worshipped.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid ( وَالْعُزَّى ) he said: al-ʿUzzā: small trees.
Others said: al-ʿUzzā was a white stone.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, he said ( الْعُزَّى ): a white stone.
Others said: it was a building at al-Ṭāʾif which Thaqīf worshipped.
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word ( وَالْعُزَّى ) he said: al-ʿUzzā: a building at al-Ṭāʾif which Thaqīf worshipped.
Others said: no, rather it was in the valley of Nakhla.
* Mention of who said that:
