“‘Ubayd Allāh ibn Mūsā narrated to us, from Isrā’īl, from al-Suddī, from Abū Sālih, who said: ‘Al-Lāt was the man who tended their gods and mixed roasted flour with liquid for them. Al-‘Uzzā was a palm tree on which they hung draperies and coloured wool. Manāt was a stone at Qudayd.’”

A number of the early generations recited al-Lātt, with a doubled t. It has also been said that it is a name formed by altering the name Allah. Al-Khattābī said:

“The polytheists sought to use Allah as a name for some of their idols, but Allah diverted it to al-Lāt, safeguarding and defending this name.”

I say: There is no contradiction between the two explanations or the two readings. There was a man who used to mix roasted flour with liquid on a stone. They devoted themselves to his grave and called him by this name, pronouncing it with a single t. They intended to say, “He is the deity,” just as they used to call idols gods. Thus, the name combined both meanings.

Al-Lāt belonged to the people of al-Tā’if, who called her al-Rabba (the Lady), while al-‘Uzzā belonged to the people of Mecca. Hence, on the day of Uhud, Abū Sufyān said:

“We have al-‘Uzzā, and you have no ‘Uzzā.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Will you not answer him?”

They asked, “What should we say?”

He replied, “Say: ‘Allah is our Protector, and you have no protector.’”

The remainder of the hadith has already been cited.

Manāt belonged to the people of Medina. Thus, every city in the Hijaz had a false deity to which its people made pilgrimage, which they took as an intercessor, and which they worshipped. As for the statement of some Quran commentators that al-‘Uzzā belonged to Ghatafān, this was because Ghatafān worshipped her and she lay in the direction of their lands, while the people of Mecca made pilgrimage to her.