George Sale, The Koran, commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed, translated into English immediately from the original Arabic; with Explanatory Notes, taken from the most approved Commentators. To which is prefixed A Preliminary Discource (1734)

also its name, where the pilgrims at this day slay their sacrifices ¹.

Before we proceed to the other idols, let us take notice of five more, which with the former three are all the Korân mentions by name, and they are Wadd, Sawâ, Yaghûth, Yäûk, and Nasr. These are said to have been antediluvian idols, which Noah preached against, and were afterwards taken by the Arabs for gods, having been men of great merit and piety in their time, whose statues they reverenced at first with a civil honour only, which in process of time became heightened to a divine worship ².

Wadd was supposed to be the heaven, and was worshipped under the form of a man by the tribe of Calb in Daumat al Jandal ³.

Sawâ was adored under the shape of a woman by the tribe of Hamadan, or, as others ⁴ write, of Hodhail in Robat. This idol lying under water for some time after the deluge, was at length, it is said, discovered by the devil, and was worshipped by those of Hodhail, who instituted pilgrimages to it ⁵.

Yaghûth was an idol in the shape of a lion, and was the deity of the tribe of Madhaj and others who dwelt in Yaman ⁶. Its name seems to be derived from ghatha, which signifies to help.

Yäûk was worshipped by the tribe of Morâd, or according to others, by that of Hamadan ⁷ under the figure of a horse. It is said he was a man of great piety, and his death much regretted; whereupon the devil appeared to his friends in a human form, and undertaking to represent him to the life, persuaded them, by way of comfort, to place his effigies in their temples, that they might have it in view when at their devotions. This was done, and seven others of extraordinary merit had the same honours shewn them, till at length their posterity made idols of them in earnest ⁸. The name Yäûk probably comes from the verb âka to prevent or avert ⁹.

Nasr was a Deity adored by the tribe of Hamyar, or at Dhû’l Khalaah in their territories, under the image of an eagle, which the name signifies.

There are, or were, two statues at Bamiyân, a city of Cabul in the Indies, 50 cubits high, which some writers suppose to be the same with Yaghûth and Yäûk, or else with Manah and Allât; and they also speak of a third standing near the others, but something less, in the shape of an old woman, called Nefrem or Nefr. These statues were hollow within for the secret giving of oracles ¹⁰; but they seem to have been different from the Arabian idols. There was also an idol at Sûmenat in the Indies, called Lât or al Lât, whose statue was 50 fathoms