(14) “The phrase ‘and the proof concerning stones and trees …’ shows that some idol-worshippers venerated stones and trees.” The words afara’aytum (“Have you then considered”) constitute a rhetorical, reproachful question, meaning: “Tell me!”—a form that both censures and rebukes. al-Lat (with a light final t): the name of an idol in al-Ta’if. It was a carved rock over which a small sanctuary with curtains had been erected, intended to rival the Ka‘ba. A courtyard surrounded it and custodians served it. The tribe of Thaqif and allied clans boasted of this idol and worshipped it instead of Allah. A Qur’anic variant reads afara’aytumu al-Latt (with a doubled t). In this case al-Latt is the active participle of latta yaluttu: a pious man who used to mix sattu flour and feed it to pilgrims. After his death, people built a structure over his grave, hung curtains on it, and eventually worshipped him instead of Allah—this, too, is al-Lat. al-‘Uzza: a group of acacia trees in Wadi Nakhlah between Mecca and al-Ta’if, enclosed by a building with curtains and attended by custodians. Devils spoke to people there; the ignorant imagined that the voices came from the trees or the shrine itself, whereas it was the devils who misled them. This idol belonged to Quraysh, the Meccans, and their neighbors. Manat: located near Mount Qudayd between Mecca and Madinah, it was venerated by the tribes of Khuzā‘ah, Aws, and Khazraj, who would begin their pilgrimage rites (ihram) from its site and worship it instead of Allah. These three—al-Lat, al-‘Uzza, and Manat—were the greatest idols of the Arabs.