Isaf

A GOD MADE OUT OF A PUNISHMENT. The legend has him and Na'ila petrified for committing adultery inside the Ka'ba — so the Quraysh worshipped, on their two most sacred hills, two people the story says were turned to stone for defiling the sanctuary.

Domains

• guardianship of zamzam
• the hill of as safa
• quraysh sacrifice

Relations

• petrified with: Na'ila

Sources

• Reference treatment of Isaf and Na'ila: two deities worshipped as a god and a goddess in pre-Islamic Arabia, Meccan water deities and the dual guardian spirits of the well of Zamzam, whose large stone idols stood atop the two sacred hills near the Ka'ba called as-Safa and al-Marwa; various legends existed about the idols, including one that they were petrified after committing adultery in the Ka'ba - taking advantage of the privacy of the Sacred House, Isaf committed adultery with her in the sanctuary, whereupon they were transformed into stone. They were primarily worshipped by the Quraysh and were said to be particularly important to that tribe, with Qurayshi sacrifices involving a talbiya directed specifically to Isaf; the Qurayshi Qusayy ibn Kilab had taken the two stones to the well of Zamzam near the Ka'ba.
• Ibn al-Kalbi, Kitab al-Asnam (early 9th c. CE)