and respectively. The latter is very possibly the Allatu of Babylonia, and is certainly the Al-lat mentioned in the Qur'an ¹. The latter word was taken to be the feminine of Allah ( اللهُ ) "God". Allah itself is known to be a contraction of Al Ilah, which is the word used in all the Semitic languages (in slightly varied forms) for God, with the definite article prefixed, so that Allah is the exact equivalent of the Greek . The form which is given us by Herodotus is the uncontracted form of the feminine of the same word ². It is possible that the Arabs of whom Herodotus speaks ³ provided their one God with a female consort, after the manner of the Semites of Babylonia, who had learnt from the

Sumerians the idea that each deity must have his feminine ¹ counterpart, just as we find among the Hindus. On the other hand, we are not justified in believing that this was the case among all the Arabs. Certainly it was not so in Muhammad's time, for neither the Qur'an nor any of the remains of the most ancient poetry of the Arabs afford any trace of such a tenet. Allah was regarded as standing alone and unapproachable, and the inferior deities peculiar to the various tribes were worshipped as intercessors with Him. These were numerous, the most important of them being Wudd, Ya'uq, Hubal, Al-lat, 'Uzza,' and Manah. The three latter were goddesses, and the Qur'an reproves ² the Arabs for styling them "daughters of God". The Arabs of that time, if we may judge from their poetry, were not very religious, but what worship they offered was mostly to these inferior deities, though doubtless regarded as through them addressed to Allah Himself. The latter was often styled Allah Ta'ala' (اللهُ تعالىُّ) or "God Most High," and this title of His was doubtless very ancient ³.