religion of the nomadic Hebrews, and will therefore only refer to a few points in the ancient Arabic religion. If Blau is right in interpreting the old Arabic proper name ‘Abd Duhmân as 'Servant of the Darkness of Night,'[1] the theological importance of the night-sky to the ancient Arabs in general is proved; for it is well known that in Arabic proper names compounded with ‘Abd 'servant' the second member of the compound is a god's name, or at least a name of theological meaning.[2] To the same class belongs the Moon-worship of the ancient Arabs, which is sufficiently attested.[3] The clearest evidence of a worship of the rainy sky and the storm among the Arabs is furnished by the name Ḳuzaḥ, to which storms and rainbows were attributed (see the following chapter §12). Arabian etymologists, among whom may be mentioned the author of the Ḳamûs and the author of the Supercommentary on that dictionary, publishing at Bûlâḳ, have tried many combinations in order to find a suitable explanation of this Ḳuzaḥ, with especial reference to the meaning rainbow; all the derivative significations of the root ḳzḥ, embellishment, variety of colour, lifting oneself, are brought forward to yield a sufficient ground for the appellation. This proves how little the Mohammedan now knows of his heathen antiquity; the use of the name Ḳuzaḥ must have been interdicted. Al-DamîrÎ, in his work Almasâ 'il al-manthûrâ, finds a deep-seated error in the word itself, instead of which he wishes to read kaza‘
- ↑ Zur hauranischen Alterthumskunde (Zeittchrift der D. M, G., 1861, XV. 444).
- ↑ It should be noted that from Ibn Dureyd, Kitâb al-ishtiḳâḳ, p. 96. 11, it is evidently possible that in such compounds the word ‘abd itself may belong to the idol; he writes wa-‘abdu shamsin za‘amû ṣanamun wa-ḳâla ḳaumun bal ‘aynu mâin ma‘rufatun wa-hua ismun ḳadîmun: '‘Abd Shams is in the opinion of some an idol, others say it is the name of a well-known spring of water: it is an old name.'
- ↑ Tuch, Sinaitische Inschriften (Zeitschr. der D. M. G., 1849, III. 202).—Osiander, Vorislam. Religion der Araber (Zeitschr. der D. M. G., 1853, VII. 483).
