Uzza:-
It is not simple now to get glimpses of the deities of pre-Islamic Arabia. Origins of deities have to be suggested with caution, but inscriptions related to Uzzā among the Nabataeans at Petra have been interpreted to associate Uzzā with the planet Venus.
According to the Book of Idols (Kitāb al-Asnām) by Hišām b. al-Kalbī (N.A. Faris 1952, pp. 16-23):
Over her [an Arab] built a house called Buss in which the people used to receive oracular communications. The Arabs as well as the Quraysh were wont to name their children "Abdu l-Uzzā". Furthermore, Uzzā was the greatest idol among the Quraysh. They used to journey to her, offer gifts unto her, and seek her favours through sacrifice.
[often of young children (Jawad Ali, Al-Mufassal Fi Tarikh al-Arab Qabl al-Islam (Beirut), 6:238-9)].
We have been told that Muhammad once mentioned Uzzā, saying,
"I have offered a sheep toUzzā while I was a follower of the religion of my people"
The Quraysh were wont to circumambulate the Ka'ba and say,
By al-Lāt and al-Uzzā,
And al-Manāt, the third idol besides.
Verily they are al-gharānīq
Whose intercession is to be sought.
This last phrase is said to be the source of the infamous Satanic Verses; the Arabic term is translated as "most exalted females" by Faris in the text, but he annotates this much-argued term in a footnote as "lit. Numidean cranes."
Kitāb al-Asnām offers additional detail of the "three exalted cranes"
Ibn Ishaq says were deleted from the Qur'an:
These were also called "the Daughters of Allah" and were supposed to intercede before Allah.
It is unclear whether these goddesses were always regarded as the daughters of Allah, or had originally been called daughters of some other deity; Kitāb al-Asnām says that each of the three's worship was introduced at a different period, suggesting that they may not originally even have been sisters.
Each of the three goddesses had a separate shrine near Mecca. The most prominent Arabian shrine of Uzzā was at a place called Nakhlah near Qudayd, east of Mecca towards Taif; three trees were sacred to her there.
(according to a narration through al-'Anazi Abū-Ali in the Kitāb al-Asnām)
Al Uzza had a sanctuary of three trees at Nakhla, east of Mecca which was the most venerated among the Quraysh, Banu Kinana, the Khuza’a and the Mudar after the Ka’ba. In fact, the pilgrims, after circumambulating the Ka’ba, remained under taboo until they came to al Uzza and had gone around her.
Her ‘holy’ place was guarded (Hajab) by the Banu Shayban of Banu Sulaym, allies of Banu Hashim (Ibn Ishaq p:38). This was the most mighty Venus, the Morning Star. Human and animal sacrifices characterised her cult and Muhammad – in ‘Muslim’ traditions - as a young man, offered her sacrifice.
She was the Lady Uzzayan to whom a South Arabian offered a golden image on behalf of his sick daughter, Amat-Uzzayan ("the Maid of Uzzayan "). abdu l-Uzzā ["Slave of the Mightiest One"] was a favourite proper name at the rise of Islam. (Hitti 1937).
The name Uzzā appears as an emblem of beauty in late pagan Arabic poetry quoted by Ibn al-Kalbī, and oaths were sworn by her.
Uzzā possible presence in South Arabia has been thoroughly effaced by time but her presence has not been obliterated far north at Petra of the Nabataeans, who had deities with Arabian names early in their history, whom they later associated with Hellenistic gods, Uzzā becoming associated with Isis and with Aphrodite. Excavations at Petra since 1974 have revealed a temple, apparently dedicated to Isis/Uzzā now named after some carvings found inside, the Temple of the Winged Lions (Hammond). Inscriptions record the name of Uzzā at Petra.
A fragment of poetry by Zayd ibn-'Amr ibn-Nufayl, quoted in the Kitāb al-Asnām, suggests that Uzzā ; had two daughters:
No more do I worship Uzzā and her two daughters.
*** That may be the reason why there are THREE trees that are venerated at Nakhla ***
In Surat al Najim (Star), 53:19 is the only time this name is mentioned. Al-Uzzā "the Mightiest One" (derived from the root Uzy) was a pre-Islamic Arabian fertility goddess who was one of the three chief goddesses of Mecca. Al Uzza, al-Manāt and al-Lāt were known as
"the daughters of Allah".
Uzzā was worshipped by the Nabataeans, who equated her with the Graeco-Roman goddesses Aphrodite, Urania, Venus and Caelestis.
According to Ibn Ishaq's controversial account of the Satanic Verses (q.v.), these verses had previously endorsed them as intercessors for Muslims, but were abrogated.
The Quraysh were wont to circumambulate the Ka'ba and say,
By al-Lāt and al-Uzzā,
And al-Manāt, the third idol besides.
Verily they are al-gharānīq
Whose intercession is to be sought.
The verses above (Satanic Verses) were ABROGATED by Muhammad and replaced with the following:
53: 18 For truly did he see of the Signs of his Lord the Greatest!
19 Have ye seen Lat al Uzza
20 And another the third (goddess) Manat?
21 What! for you the male sex and for Him the female?
22 Behold such would be indeed a division most unfair!
Al Uzzā, like Hubal, was called upon for protection by the pre-Islamic Quraysh. "In 624 at the battle called Uhud, the war cry of the Qurayshites was,
"O people of Uzzā, people of Hubal!" (Tawil 1993)
Muhammad Mohar Ali writes (2002):
The Arabs had developed a number of subsidiary Ka'bat (tawaghit) at different places in the land, each with its presiding god or goddess. They used to visit those shrines at appointed times, circumambulate them and make sacrifices of animals there, besides performing other polytheistic rites.
The most prominent of these shrines were those of al-Lāt at Ta'if, al-Uzzā at Nakhlah and al-Manāt near Qudayd. The origins of these idols are uncertain. Ibn al-Kalbī says that al-Lāt was "younger" ('ahdath) than al-Manāt, while al-Uzzā was "younger" than both al-Lāt and al-Manāt. But though al-Uzzā was thus the youngest of the three; it was nonetheless the most important and the greatest (Aatham) idol with the Quraysh who, along with the Banū Kinānah, ministered to it.
Sunan of Abu-DawoodHadith 804 Narrated byJabir ibn Samurah
The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) used to recite in the noon and afternoon prayer: “By the Heaven and the Morning Star” (Surah 86) and “By the Heaven , holding mansions of the stars” (Surah 85) and similar surahs of equal length.
In Rabbinical traditions, Uzza was one of the Fallen Angels of the Lord who taught mankind the magic arts (Ginzberg I: 124) and was the protecting angel of Egypt (Ginzberg 3:17/23).
Isaiah 14: 12. How are you fallen from heaven, O bright star [planet Venus], son of the morning! how are you cut down to the ground, you who ruled the nations!