Allat
Allat (also al-Lat) was the Arab tribal goddess of the Thaqif who lived in the city of Taif. She is one of three goddesses that the pre-Islamic Meccans referred to as "Daughters of Allah", according to the Qur'an (Sura 53:19).
Her name originated as short for al 'ilāhat = "the goddess".
There is a saying that her name originated with a Jewish man in Taif who mixed water or clarified Butter with Barley meal and gave it to pilgrims. This man was reverentially referred to by the name "Al-Lat" for his actions (in Arabic al means "the" and lat refers to the mixing/moistening action.) When he died the rock where he was buried came to be worshipped and was known by his name. A stone idol to Allat was later placed in the Ka'abah in Mecca.
According to the Book of Idols (Kitab al-Asnām) by Hishām b. al-Kalbi (N.A. Faris 1952, pp. 14-15):
- Her custody was in the hands of the banu-'Attab ibn-Malik of the Thaqif, who had built an edifice over her. The Quraysh, as well as all the Arabs, were wont to venerate Allat. They also used to name their children after her, calling them Zayd-Allat and Taym-Allat. [...] Allat continued to be venerated until the Thaqif embraced Islam, when the Apostle of God dispatched al-Mughirah ibn-Shu'bah, who destroyed her and burnt her Temple to the ground.
The name also occurs in earlier Safaitic graffiti as han-'Ilat "the Goddess". She was also worshipped by the Nabataeans, who equated her with the Greek Athena & the Roman Minerva. According to Wellhausen, they believed Allat was the mother of Hubal (and hence the mother-in-law of Manāh.)