وَمَناةَ الثّالِثَةَ الأُخرىٰ
And Manāt, the third one?
EXEGESIS
Manāt was the name of one of the false deities worshipped by the Hudhayl and Khuzāʿah tribes. It is said to have been a large rock, most likely carved into a specific shape. It has been claimed that Manāt was called so because the menstrual blood of women would begin to flow (tumnā) near it; others have said it is because the blood of slaughtered sacrifices would flow on it. The latter makes far more sense, considering it was probably a large rock.
Ukhrā means another, and has been understood by some to have been used here to denote lowliness of status and insignificance. However, what is more apparent is that it simply means another.
EXPOSITION
Even though the Arab polytheists had many idols and deities that they worshipped, the three idols mentioned in these two verses were the most famous amongst them. Manāt is said to have been the first idol worshipped after Hubal in the Arabian Peninsula since ʿAmr ibn Luḥayy brought idol worship there with him from the Levant.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Rāzī argues that the three idols are mentioned in a specific order. The first, al-Lāt, was an idol named after a historical human being. Al-ʿUzzā, the second, is based on a tree, which is a plant, something less lively compared to a human, yet still a living being. The third, Manāt, is a rock, something which has no life at all. In this way the false gods are each one progressively weaker than the previous, as each one is less and less capable of any action.
Tabatabai argues that none of the various reports concerning these three idols can be accepted with certainty, since to him they are far too contradictory.
[1] Tibyan, 9/427.
[2] Zamakhshari, 4/423; Muhit, 10/16.
[3] Qurtubi, 17/102.
[4] Muhit, 10/17.
[5] Nemuneh, 22/516-518, which cites Maḥmūd Shukrī al-Ālūsī’s work, Bulūgh al-Irab fī Māʿrifat Aḥwāl al-ʿArab.
[6] Razi, 28/248.
[7] Mizan, 19/38.