He replied, “He is not one of you; he is from your brethren, Quraysh.”’” As mentioned earlier.

Thaqīf had among them al-Lāt, mentioned in the Quran in the words of Allah Most High:

“Have you considered al-Lāt and al-‘Uzzā,
and Manāt, the third—the other one?
Is the male for you and the female for Him?”

It is related that this was the place where a man used to mix roasted flour with liquid and serve it to the pilgrims as a drink. When he died, they devoted themselves to his grave, and it became a great idol that was worshipped. They called travelling to it a pilgrimage, as mentioned earlier. This shows that travelling to shrines constitutes pilgrimage to them, as some ordinary people say: “By the right of the Prophet, to whom riding beasts make pilgrimage.”

‘Abd ibn Humayd said in his Quran commentary:

“Qabīsa narrated to us, from Sufyān, from Mansūr, from Mujāhid, concerning ‘Have you considered al-Lāt and al-‘Uzzā?’ He said: ‘There was a man who used to mix roasted flour with liquid. When he died, his grave was made a place of prayer.’”

He also said:

“Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd narrated to us, from Abū al-Ashhab, from Abū al-Jawzā’, from Ibn ‘Abbās, who said: ‘Al-Lāt was a man who used to mix roasted flour with liquid for the pilgrims.’”

Ibn Abī Hātim likewise narrated it from Abū al-Jawzā’, from Ibn ‘Abbās, who said:

“He used to mix roasted flour with liquid on the stone, and no one drank any of it without growing stout, so they worshipped him.”

It is related from al-A‘mash that he said:

“Mujāhid used to recite ‘al-Lātt,’ with a doubled t, and would say: ‘There was a man who used to mix roasted flour with liquid on a rock along the road to al-Tā’if and feed it to the people. He died and was buried, and they devoted themselves to his grave.’”

Sulaymān ibn Harb said:

“Hammād ibn Zayd narrated to us, from ‘Amr ibn Mālik, from Abū al-Jawzā’, who said: ‘Al-Lāt was a stone on which roasted flour was mixed with liquid, and so it was called al-Lāt.’”

And he said: