Isāf () and Nā'ila () were two deities worshipped as a god and a goddess in

pre-Islamic Arabia Pre-Islamic Arabia is the Arabian Peninsula and its northern extension in the Syrian Desert before the rise of Islam. This is consistent with how contemporaries used the term ''Arabia'' or where they said Arabs lived, which was not limited to the ...

. They were primarily worshipped by the

Quraysh The Quraysh () are an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe who controlled Mecca before the rise of Islam. Their members were divided into ten main clans, most notably including the Banu Hashim, into which Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was born. By ...

Attestations

Some Muslim scholars, including al-Azraqi, claimed that 'Amr ibn Luhayy, the patriarch of the Arab tribe Banu Khuza'a, who introduced

idolatry Idolatry is the worship of an idol as though it were a deity. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the Abrahamic ...

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

, was responsible for the worship of Isāf and Nā'ila. He had called on people to worship them and justified that their ancestors had already done so. The Qurayshi Qusaiy ibn Kilāb had then taken the two stones to the well of Zamzam near the

Kaaba The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...

. Isāf and Nā'ila were said to be particularly important to the

tribe, associated with Qurayshi sacrifices involving a ''talbiya'' specifically directed to Isāf. Various legends existed about the idols, including one that they were petrified after they committed adultery in the

. Ibn al-Kalbi handed down the legend in his Book of Idols as follows:

They set out to perform the pilgrimage. Upon their arrival in Mecca they entered the Ka'bah. Taking advantage of the absence of anyone else and of the privacy of the Sacred House, Isaf committed adultery with her in the sanctuary. Thereupon they were transformed into stone, becoming two ''miskhs''.

According to the traditions of the Meccan local historian al-Azraqī, the incident happened at the time when the Arab tribe of the Jurhum ruled over Mecca. The two stones were removed from the Kaaba and placed on the Al-Safa and Al-Marwah hills so that the people would be warned. Over time, they were then venerated as idols. After the Muslim capture of the city in January 630, the two stone idols were destroyed. al-Azraqi, ''Akhbar Makka'', pg. 50

Interpretations

Aziz al-Azmeh believes that Isāf and Nā'ila were probably the original deities of the

, brought by them from their erstwhile territories to

and worshipped continually along the regnant deities of Mecca, including al-'Uzza.

References

{{Reflist Arabian gods Arabian goddesses Mythological duos Quraysh