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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.

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    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.

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