A list of the pagan gods who were worshipped by the Pre-Islamic Arabs. Much of the evidence of these deities and their worshippers were destroyed during the rise of Islam, but this is the majority of those remembered:
Allah - the supreme deity (both male and female) of the pagan Arabs. Allah is the one who existed before all things and had created the universe. Afterwards, they retired into the position of a silent and remote spectator who dwelt in ‘Aliyyin, the highest heaven, and only intervened in human affairs in extreme cases of drought or danger. Despite being the supreme deity, Allah was rarely directly worshipped.
Al-Lat - goddess of war, peace, combat, and prosperity. Al-lat was the Meccan mother goddess and the chief deity of the tribe of Banu Thaqif. She is one of the three daughters of Allah- all of whom were the supreme goddesses of the Arabs and were widely worshipped.
Al-Uzza - goddess of might, protection, love, and the planet Venus. One of the three daughters of Allah and wife of Hubal, god of war
Manat - goddess of fate, destiny, and death. She is the eldest of her three sisters (making her the eldest deity after Allah). She is wife of Quzah, the god of thunder.
Hubal - god of war, victory in battle, fortune, and rainfall; husband of the goddess Al-Uzza.
Quzah - god of storms, thunder, and clouds; husband of Manat. Thunder, said to be the battle-cry of Quzah, was believed to scare away spirits of disease and misfortune. The rainbow that appeared after rain was considered by the people of Mecca to be a ladder to the heavens.
Isaf and Na'ila - Meccan water deities: the dual guardian spirits of the holy well of Zamzam
Duwar - goddess of maidens; she was worshiped by the youngest women of the Banu Quraysh
Al-Ikrimah - god of fertility; his idol was a statue of a dove carved from aloe wood
Dhātu-Anwāt - goddess of trees
Suwā - goddess of night, beauty, and freshwater springs
Ar-Rā'iyu (’The One Who Sees’) - god of dreams and prophecy. All dreams were considered to be messages from the gods in pre-Islamic Arabia and oracles specialized in interpreting them. This god was believed to be an all-seeing guardian.
Al-Mundhir - a west Arabian god of justice, whose name means “The Cautioner”
Yaghuth - (“He Helps”) the south Arabian god of strength, courage, and war; had an idol that was a statue of a lion which was situated on a hill in Yemen
Yahwah - north Arabian weather god, worshiped as a divine warrior who rides on the clouds and leads the armies of Heaven. In the religion of the Hebrew tribes of ancient Palestine, their deity Yahweh was originally one god among many; although in later times he developed into a major tribal god and eventually the Hebrews elevated him to the status of an all-powerful creator god above all the others: a position that was held previously by El, who became an epithet of Yahweh.
Bahar (or Bajar) - god of the ocean
Rudā - a central Arabian rain goddess; brought droughts when angered
Nahastāb - a south Arabian fertility god who was worshiped by the Minaean Arabs. This god was associated with serpents who were recognized as omens of bounty and fertile ground.
Su’ayr - north Arabian god of oracles
Al-Jalsad - south Arabian god of pastures and fields
Ashar - north Arabian god of war
Ni'mat - north Arabian goddess of fortune
Hāwlat - goddess of magic and power; patroness of the oases of Dumah and Hejra. The name of the goddess means “to change (fortunes)” and “to avert”.
Abgal - north Arabian tutelary god; god of the desert and the patron of Bedouins and caravan drivers
Amm’anas - south Arabian god of agriculture
Nasr - god of the deep desert whose idol was a sculpture of a large vulture (in some sources an eagle) that was situated in a temple in the village of Balkha in Yemen. The sacred animal of Nasr, the vulture, was venerated by his worshipers as a totem of insight and sharp character; as well as this, the god represented the hostile and unforgiving aspects of nature, in particular, the desert.
Dhātu-Ba'dan - south Arabian goddess of oases, nature, and the wet season
Taraha - north Arabian goddess of fortune and prosperity. This goddess was also known as Tadha and was believed to watch over the tombs of the dead.
Al-Ghurab - god of the dead; his idol was in the form of a raven that was housed in the Ka'aba along with 360 other idols of gods and goddesses. Ravens were sacred to this god as guardians of the spirits of the dead
Kuthrā (“The Most Rich”) - central Arabian goddess of prosperity and fortune
Khomar - south Arabian god of wine and vineyards
Ya’uq is the south Arabian god of protection and preservation who was associated with swift thought and intelligence
Salman (or Salim) - god of oases, peace, and harmony. In the religion of the western Semites, Shalim was a god of the underworld and the dusk, and his name ’Shalim’ (Peace) was meant as an allegory for the peace of the grave.
Rahmaw (or Rahmanan) - south Arabian god of mercy and protection, whose mythology was later absorbed into that of the creator god Allah.
Jihār - west Arabian god of longevity, wisdom, and marketplaces
Isāt - south Arabian goddess of fire; counterpart to the Canaanite fire goddess Ishat, wife of Moloch
Yurhim - god of joy and happiness
Harimtu (or 'Athiratan) - south Arabian goddess of fertility; the mother of the gods and the wife of the sky god Ilmaqah
Ilmuqah (also known as Ilumquh and Almaqah) - south Arabian god of the sky and the chief tribal deity of the Sabaean Arabs. He was worshiped as the protector of artificial irrigation and his divine symbol was a cluster of lightning bolts surrounding a curved sickle. Bulls were the sacred animals of Ilmuqah. His name means “The God Who Gives Health”
Shay al-Qawm - god of war, valour, and the night
Qaynan - god of metalworkers and smiths
Al-Kutbay (or al-Aktab) - god of writing, prophecy and merchants who was the scribe of the gods and recorder of all deeds and events
Raziqa (or Razeka) - goddess of the earth and fertility who was worshiped by the ancient tribes of Thamud and 'Ād as a provider of food and sustenance.
Nuha (or Nahi) - north Arabian goddess of wisdom and intelligence
Hafidha - goddess of travel and journeys
Thu'ban - god of snakes; believed to be a giant serpent who guarded the treasures in the well of the Ka'aba of Mecca.
Hilāl - god of the moon; provided relief and dew for the weary desert nomads and their flocks. The waning crescent moon which was first visible before and after a new moon, heralded the start of Ramadan: this was a sacred time for the pagan Arabs of Mecca and the Hijaz, during which they fasted and feasted.
Shams - goddess of the sun and the chief goddess of the Himyar tribal confederation; believed by the inhabitants of the fertile lands of south Arabia to be a preserver of crops and domestic life, while other tribes with more intense heat viewed her as a destroyer of lands. She was both respected and feared.
Athtar - god of the planet Venus (linked with the Canaanite god Attar). Athtar is the provider of water and a protector of irrigation systems. His sacred symbol is a spear-point as he is also a war god, and his sacred animal is the Arabian oryx (antelope).
Akhwar - god of righteousness and the planet Jupiter
'Utarid - god of intelligence, learning, writing, eloquence, and Mercury
Azizan (also known as Azizos) is the north Arabian god of the planet Mars who was associated with victory in battle and was depicted as riding on a camel alongside his brother Mun'im
Nakruh - god of the planet Saturn
Dhu’l-Samawi - god of the night sky, the stars, and the constellations whose name translates as “Lord of the Heavens”. Bedouin tribes would bring their animals to the shrine of Dhu’l-Samawi when they were injured and they also sent sick people to reside at his shrine in order to receive healing.
Shangilā - north Arabian god of stars
Ash-Shi'rā - goddess of the Sirius star; believed to bestow wealth and good fortune
Ath-Thurayya - goddess of the Pleiades star cluster
As-Simāk (’The Uplifted One’) is a west Arabian star god who was the deification of the star Arcturus in the constellation of Bootes and was worshiped to bring riches, renown and honor. The symbol of the god was the lance (ar-rimah) and was also named as Haris as-Samā’, 'the Guardian of Heaven’.
Al-Dabaran (“The Follower’’) - god of the star Aldebaran
Mawt - god of death and sterility; the Arabian counterpart of the Canaanite god Mot; sacred animals of Mawt are owls. After a person died, their soul (nafs) was believed to descend to the land of Mawt, the akhirah; where they lead a calm, yet gloomy, existence as spirits (arwah) and as shades (ashbah). The Arabs believed the Underworld to be neither a place of reward nor punishment, but simply as a state of existence without pain or pleasure that most people would lead as a shabah or shade. But the spirits of priests and powerful and honoured people were believed to ascend to a heavenly otherworld (al-Munqalab) or the sky (as-Sama’) itself, where they would enjoy the company of the gods and angels (mala'ikah) and would have power over human affairs in the Dunyā (the material world).
Hawkam - god of justice and the Judge of the Dead
Ba'alat-Sahra - a north Arabian goddess of the Underworld and the desert; she was an important goddess of the nomadic Semites; known to the Amorite tribe of southern Syria as Belet-Seri, the wife of their chief god Amurru.
Qaysha - south Arabian funerary goddess
Hawran - underworld god who presided over the spirits of disease which he could protect from or send at will as punishment; protected people from the venom of snakes.
Al-Muharriq - underworld god who was represented as a fierce deity at a red shrine and whose sacred animal was an adult male lion (usamah). Al-Muharriq, like his Babylonian counterpart Nergal, had a wrathful disposition; he was believed to send diseases and plagues if he was angry with the population. The name of the god means ’'the Burner” as he represented the scorching heat of the desert, as well as the heat of disease and fire.