https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPjNZOoA2oU&list=PLRagz8v-1fF6KN1zX99EBH80W56NN-TFL&t=2s

🔻"Religious Landscape of Pre-Islamic Arabia: An Analysis Based on Primary (Epigraphic) and Contemporary Sources," Lec08
speaker: Dr. Farhad Ghoddoussi
Sep 20, 2026

Topic: A Reference to Ishtar Cult in the Qur'an

summary:
In this lecture we continued our discussion regarding the five idols which were explicitly named in (Q71:23) and tried to answer the two following related questions.

Question1: Why does the Qur'an, which is typically concise when mentioning proper names, explicitly list the names of five idols belonging to the people of Noah, who lived in the distant past and were destroyed in the Flood?

Question2: How did these five idols survive Noah's Flood and spread into Arabia?

We examined epigraphic inscriptions (primary sources) regarding these five idols. Overall, the epigraphic evidence supports the existence of all these five deities/idols in pre-Islamic Arabia. and as Ahmad al-Jallad puts they span all corners of Arabian peninsula.

Arthur Jeffery and G. A. Barton linked Wadd to Tammuz/Athtar, connecting the Arabian pantheon (5 Idols) directly to the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, which its origin goes back to about 2000 BCE. In Tablet VI of this Epic, the goddess Ishtar's lovers include a Man, Lion, Horse and Bird, which allows to establish the following equations Tammuz (Male) =Wadd; Athtar/Ishtar (Female) =Suwā‘; The Lion = Yaghūth; The Horse = Ya‘ūq; The Bird = Nasr.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the character Utnapishtim (the Mesopotamian counterpart to the biblical Noah) and the Great Deluge occupy a central thematic and structural role, particularly in Tablet XI of the Standard Babylonian version (compiled c. 1300–1000 BCE).

By referencing these five specific idols in Q71:23 in the context of the prophet Nuh’s story, the Qur'an is not introducing a new concept, but rather highlighting a deeply historical, widespread Near Eastern pantheon that extended far beyond the localized deities of pre-Islamic Hijaz.

#pre_islamic_arabia