كليدواژه :
عُزّي , الهۀ سياه , مسيحيان هلني , شيطان , ارواح پليد , منابع متقدم اسلامي , خدابانوان عرب
چكيده فارسي :
يكي از زمينه‌هاي بحث دربارۀ خدابانوان عربي واكاوي ويژگي‌هاي ايشان در منابع اسلامي است. در اين زمينه، به طور ويژه برخي گزارش‌هاي مرتبط با الهۀ عُزّي درخور توجه است كه در روايت‌هاي مربوط به انهدامش به‌مثابۀ زني سياه‌روي معرفي شده است. در حالي كه اين خصلت در ساير صفت‌ها و نمادهاي عُزّي ريشه ندارد. اكنون پرسش‌هاي اصلي اين نوشتار عبارت است از: خاستگاه چنين خصلتي براي عُزّي چيست و او برچه اساسي و با چه معياري در منابع اسلامي چنين صفتي، آن‌هم تنها در روايت‌هاي مربوط به انهدام، به خود گرفته است؟ گزارش‌هاي نويسنده‌هاي مذكور درصدد گفتن چه مطلبي است و اين امر به درك ارزش‌گذاري الهه‌ها و خدابانوان مشركان در فرهنگ اسلامي چه كمكي مي‌كند؟ يافته‌هاي پژوهش نشان مي‌دهد انتساب مذكور بيش از آنكه از امر واقع حكايت كند، نوعي اقتباس و الگوگيري مسلمانان از سنت‌هاي توحيدي رايج در منطقه است كه در مواجهه با خدايان غير داشتند. در اين مقاله نشان خواهيم داد خاستگاه اصلي اين سنت در بين‌النهرين باستان ريشه دارد كه پس از تبعيد يهوديان به بابل در ميان ساميان هم وارد شد؛ سپس در فرآيندي تكاملي از راه كتاب مقدس و سنت اربابان كليسا به مسلمانان سده‌هاي نخست هم به ارث رسيد.
چكيده لاتين :
The goddess al-’Uzzā is one of the famous Arabian deities in the pre-Islamic era, whose name is also mentioned in the Qur'an (Najm:19). In some Islamic reports, the destruction of al-’Uzzā has been described in a wonderful way. While most of these traditions describe al-’Uzzā as an idol, in some of them, she appears in the form of a black woman with disheveled hair and is then killed by Muslim soldiers. The main questions of this study are as follows: What is the reason for this altered description and where is the origin of such a forgery? What are the Muslim authors’ reports trying to describe and how does this help to understand the values of deities in Islamic culture?
Introduction
Paying attention to the contexts of Islamic sources and studying the cultural atmosphere of the first Islamic centuries is a path opened to us in recent decades, the importance of which is gradually increasing. The use of historical analyses and new approaches to historiography based on the interaction between Islamic texts and their historical contexts can have important prospects in achieving a deeper understanding of the reports related to these sources. In the present research, this method has been used to study some Muslims’ reports about Arabian deities.
According to early Islamic sources, the Prophet Muhammad marched on the surrounding areas and destroyed the temples and shrines of the idols after the conquest of Mecca. In the reports related to these events, the destruction of al-’Uzzā has been described in a strange way. According to these sources, al-’Uzzā is not just an idol, but in fact, a woman, who has appeared in a black and disheveled hair and who has been applauded by custodians and her guardian and destroyed by Muslim soldiers. The Prophet’s confirmation at the end of these reports is an important proof of such a description, which announces the permanent destruction of al-’Uzzā by killing this woman. However, these sources have previously introduced this goddess as a wooden or stone idol, which has consequently had no power of self-defense. In this research, these reports have been examined in order to clarify what has made the first Muslims create this imagery and forgery and who this woman has been.
Materials & Methods
The method used in the current study has been to read the Islamic reports with an inter-religious approach. In this method, we have specifically considered the comparative study of Islamic sources with Christian texts.
Discussion of Results & Conclusions
According to pre-Islamic literature, including the Bible and early Christians’ beliefs, it seems that the reports of Islamic sources about manifestation of al-’Uzzā in the form of a black woman have been influenced by the regional common beliefs and in particular, the Christians’ insight that Satan, often identified in association with the ancient deities, has been portrayed in black and more accurately, as an Abyssinian. Their purpose in this reconstruction has been to remove the veneration of the pagan deities forever just as the early Christians have used the same trick to eliminate the gods worshiped by their opponents. On this basis, the contexts of the reports narrated about al-’Uzzā can be approximately reconstructed as follows: By changing some Christians’ beliefs, the first Muslims have tried to associate al-’Uzzā as the most powerful and important goddess of Quraysh with a black woman in addition to introducing the satanic identity of this god of the pagans to show the defeat of authority in this community and the end of their field of activity with gods and goddesses forever. This is related to the common beliefs about al-’Uzzā as a woman with long hair or a virgin goddess or a goddess, who has taken part in wars. The other characteristics attributed to al-’Uzzā have been part of the beliefs of Arab pagans about deities before Islam has dominated the region. It seems that the Muslims’ commercial and political relations with Christians, which have increased, especially in the aftermath of the conquests, have made these authors take this adaptation strategy. Additionally, this fact can be specifically considered that the geographical region of the Muslims, who have promoted and spread the reports in question, has been entirely tied to Iraq area, the center of the Abbasid caliphate, which has had a lot of interactions with Christians. With this identification and imagery, Muslims seem to have confronted Christians, who have felt the need to create an identity for posterity, while this has motivated the development of such reports in Islamic sources.
