خلاصة:
یکی از زمینههای بحث دربارۀ خدابانوان عربی واکاوی ویژگیهای ایشان در منابع اسلامی است. در این زمینه، به طور ویژه برخی گزارشهای مرتبط با الهۀ عُزّی درخور توجه است که در روایتهای مربوط به انهدامش بهمثابۀ زنی سیاهروی معرفی شده است. در حالی که این خصلت در سایر صفتها و نمادهای عُزّی ریشه ندارد. اکنون پرسشهای اصلی این نوشتار عبارت است از: خاستگاه چنین خصلتی برای عُزّی چیست و او برچه اساسی و با چه معیاری در منابع اسلامی چنین صفتی، آنهم تنها در روایتهای مربوط به انهدام، به خود گرفته است؟ گزارشهای نویسندههای مذکور درصدد گفتن چه مطلبی است و این امر به درک ارزشگذاری الههها و خدابانوان مشرکان در فرهنگ اسلامی چه کمکی میکند؟ یافتههای پژوهش نشان میدهد انتساب مذکور بیش از آنکه از امر واقع حکایت کند، نوعی اقتباس و الگوگیری مسلمانان از سنتهای توحیدی رایج در منطقه است که در مواجهه با خدایان غیر داشتند. در این مقاله نشان خواهیم داد خاستگاه اصلی این سنت در بینالنهرین باستان ریشه دارد که پس از تبعید یهودیان به بابل در میان سامیان هم وارد شد؛ سپس در فرآیندی تکاملی از راه کتاب مقدس و سنت اربابان کلیسا به مسلمانان سدههای نخست هم به ارث رسید.
Abstract: The goddess al-’Uzza 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-’Uzza has been described in a wonderful way. While most of these traditions describe al-’Uzza 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-’Uzza has been described in a strange way. According to these sources, al-’Uzza 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-’Uzza 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-’Uzza 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-’Uzza can be approximately reconstructed as follows: By changing some Christians’ beliefs, the first Muslims have tried to associate al-’Uzza 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-’Uzza 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-’Uzza 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.