Skip to main content

Al-Lat

 Al-Lat was the Great Mother Goddess of pre-Islamic Arabia.  She was worshipped at the Kaaba in Mecca until the city was conquered in 630 AD by Muhammed.  (source) Yes...that Kaaba, where Allah is now worshipped.  She was rewritten as a daughter of Allah and a djinn, but was also considered to be Allah's wife, consort, or feminine aspect.  Or...is she the root from which Allah evolved?  In the Quran, Allah is not referred to by gendered pronouns.  Is Allah a Great Mother Goddess?  insert shrug emoji here.

Al-Lat original painting based on a bas relief from Palmyra.  Original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America.

Johanna-Hypatia Cybeleia offers the following evidence.  "Although the word ka‘bah itself means 'cube', it is very close to the word ku‘b meaning 'woman's breast' which is derived from the same three-letter root. This turns out to be an appropriate metaphor, as the Ka‘bah nurtures with the milk of spiritual blessing all the faithful who come to touch and kiss it. (reference: My Soul Is a Woman: The Feminine in Islam by Annemarie Schimmel.)

"Muslims call upon Allah with the name of Mother, and this is sanctioned in the most authoritative texts, in the Qur’an and in the prayers uttered by the Prophet. In every prayer, they call upon Allah by using the special word Allâhumma, which is a compound of Allâh and umm, 'Mother', with the Arabic vocative -a. In every prayer, they are literally calling "O Mother."

"I don't suppose most Muslims are aware that all along they've been calling on the Divine Mother when they pray Allâhumma, but there is no other explanation for the etymology of this ancient prayer formula that is much older than Islam.

"Allâh means 'Mother' in Sanskrit."

What do you think?  Feel free to comment!



Comments

  1. Ben HellmanMay 23, 2021 at 9:55 AM

    Al-Lat features in Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses, about a story from the life of Mohammad in which he was forcing Mecca to abandon all of its gods. The merchant elite of Mecca ask Mohammad to allow them to keep venerating Al-Lat as an angel of Allah (which they thought a good compromise) and he returned from his cave with verses allowing the veneration of Allah, but then claimed they were verses from Satan (hence the title of the novel). I don't recall whether Rushdie made this all up whole cloth, but I don't think he did.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LauraMay 23, 2021 at 11:15 AM

      Thanks! I did read about that when I was researching. Fascinating. I just googled the book to see if I might read it. I skimmed the first couple pages and it looks amazing...but it's 746 pages long, so I may have to wait a bit until I work through my existing backlog. I found a really interesting photo of a carving of Al-Lat surrounded by the zodiac in another text that I want to delve into more at some point. Too many goddesses, too little time.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Asherah

 An inscription from Khirbet El-Qôm (near Jerusalem) dated to the 700s BCE and translated by archaeologist Judith Hadley reads, "Uriyahu the Rich wrote it. Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh for from his enemies by his Asherah he has saved him by Oniyahu by his Asherah and by his A[she]rah.” ( Source ) Asherah was the Great Goddess of the Ancient Near East.  From this inscription and other evidence, it is surmised that Yahweh, the God of the Jews, once had a wife - Asherah.  Asherah was also sometimes known as Astarte and was associated with lions and the planet Venus, like her relative, Ishtar/Inanna.  Asherah's symbol was the tree of life, and her worship involved sacred groves and asherah poles.   Asherah original painting available through  Saatchi Art .  Stickers, prints, and other merch available in shop or through  RedBubble  or  Fine Art America.   All of the Asherahs in my painting are based on figurines housed in the Isra...
1 comment
Read more

Angrboda

 In December of 2020, I took part in a Goddess painting challenge.  One Goddess per day to Instagram.  I am grateful to that challenge, for sending me down this rabbit hole of research into the divine feminine.  On Instagram on December 8, 2020, I wrote:       "Hel  was today's prompt. In the  Eddas , she is the daughter of  Angrboda  and  Loki .  She is alternately described as half blue, half black, or half skeletal.  I went with blue.     " Here, she is a baby, in a family portrait.  Mother Angrboda with her darling children in the  Ironwood  forest of  Jotunheim .  Baby G oddess  Hel,  Jormungandr  the baby serpent, and cute little  Fenris  wolf puppy.  How would they have grown up if Odin hadn't separated them from their mother and flung them out to the farthest and most desolate corners of the nine worlds?  Would they all still crave...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ophanim

The Ophanim are listed by ancient Jewish scholar Maimonides as the highest of God's angels.  In the Bible, the Ophanim are described as sets of nested wheels, covered in eyes, that move next to the Cherubim angels, beneath the throne of God.  They never sleep, but along with the Seraphim and Cherubim, guard the throne. The Ophanim See All.  Original painting, prints, and merch available via shop link above, or RedBubble or Fine Art America . Ezekiel, in the Bible, describes the Ophanim as sparkling like topaz, high and awesome, full of eyes all around. Sources: Wikipedia The Bible
Post a Comment
Read more

Hannahanna

Hannahanna is an enigmatic goddess.  She is the Great Mother Goddess worshipped by the Hittites of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), circa 1800–1180 B.C.E.  (Source:  Brooklyn Museum ). The word for grandmother in Turkey derives from her name. She may be a grandmother of Artemis of Ephesus and Demeter.  All three share a bee connection.   Hannahanna is known for saving the world by sending one of her bees to awaken a depressed Telepino, sulky god of agriculture. Another myth tells of how Hannahanna herself disappeared in a fit of anger, causing all the crops to die and parents to abandon their children until, her anger absorbed by the dark side of the Earth (the underworld), she returned. This, combined with the myth of waking the god of agriculture, presents a close parallel to the myths of Demeter and Persephone. Additionally, the priestesses of Persephone and Demeter were known as Melissai or “bees.” Persephone’s nickname among the ancient Greeks was Melit...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jingwei and Xingtian

 "Jingwei bites hold of twigs, determined to fill up the deep-blue sea. Xingtian dances wildly with his spear and shield, his old ambitions still burn fiercely. After blending with things, no anxieties should remain. After metamorphosing, all one's regrets should flee. In vain do they cling to their hearts from the past. How can they, a better day, foresee." --Poet Tao Qian, 365 - 427 CE, writing about Jingwei and Xingtian. Jingwei was a Chinese Goddess who transformed into a bird to save herself from drowning in the sea while playing. She is determined to fill the sea with twigs and pebbles so no one else will meet the same fate. Xingtian was a Chinese God who fought the Supreme Divinity for control, not giving up even after he was decapitated. He continues to fight using his nipples as eyes and his bellybutton as a mouth. He fights with shield in one hand and a battle axe or spear in the other. Both are known for their determination and persistence in impossible tasks. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sophia and the Apocryphon of John

 In 1945, thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by an Egyptian farmer near the town of Nag Hammadi, Egypt.  These early Christian texts date from the 3rd century CE, and include writings attributed to John the Baptist.  The writings of John became known as the Secret Book of John, or the Apocryphon of John.  A translation by Frederik Wisse can be read online . In the Apocryphon, there is a female counterpart to the Father - the holy Mother, Barbelo.  "She is the forethought of the All - her light shines like his light - the perfect power...  The first power, the glory of Barbelo, the perfect glory in the aeons, the glory of the revelation... she became the womb of everything, for it is she who is prior to them all, the Mother-Father." I became aware of the Apocryphon of John after reading a graphic novel by Marisa Acocella, The Big She-Bang, The Herstory of the Universe According to God the Mother (highly recommended, by ...
3 comments
Read more