An-Najm · Makki · ayah 20 of 62

An-Najm 53:20

وَمَنَوٰةَ ٱلثَّالِثَةَ ٱلْأُخْرَىٰٓ

“And Manāt, the third - the other one?[1569]”

Saheeh International

Essence

And Manat, the third, the other: each idol lower than the last, until the list ends on a rock at the tail of the herd.

A reflection

The goddess of fate, and the lucky socks

The commentaries record several explanations of the name Manat. One classical commentator mentions that some took it from manā, to decree or measure out, as when Allah manā a thing: determined it. On that view Manat was, in effect, a goddess of fate, the power that allots what happens.

Another commentator suggests a different derivation, from nawʾ: the setting and rising of certain stars, by which the Arabs expected rain. People, he says, would seek rain at her shrine by those star-signs, hoping for blessing. Another view links the name to blood poured out there from sacrificial animals.

Each is one view. But together they sketch something people still do. They try to manage fate through objects and rituals.

The first image many of us carry is that luck is a force you can court. Picture a student who wears the same pair of socks to every exam because she did well the first time she wore them. She knows it is silly. She would still feel uneasy without them. A footballer who must step onto the pitch right foot first. A family that will not move house on a certain day.

None of them would call it worship. But it is the old instinct of Manat. There is a power over my fate, and I can keep it on my side with the right ritual.

The truer picture is both humbler and freer. Fate is not a mood to be managed. It is decree, and it belongs to Allah alone, the One who allots without needing to be bribed. The student does not need lucky socks. She needs to revise, to pray, and to trust the One who measures out every result.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.