Manaf (deity)

Manaf (Arabic: مناف) was a pre-Islamic Arabian deity and given name that means "elevated". Personal names incorporating the name Manaf such as "Abd Manaf" show that the deity was widespread among the tribes of Quraysh, Hudhayl, and Tamim.

Although famous scholar Al-Tabari calls Manaf "one of the greatest deities of Mecca," very little information is available on the subject. However, going by the inscriptions, the name was known in Thamudic, Safaitic, and Dadanitic inscriptions, and there were altars dedicated to him at Hauran in the Levant and at Volubilis in Morocco.

Some authors state that women, who normally touched his cult image as a token of blessing, kept away from it during menstruation, but, according to Encyclopedia of Islam, a report from Ibn Al-Kalbi indicates that this practice was common to all idols.

He is attested in the Hauran as Zeus Manaphos, equated with Zeus. Some scholars suggest that Manaf might be a solar god.

In the book "Kitabu'l-Asnam", Hisham ibn al-Kalbi claims that "We know little about the idol save that it was Hudhail, and had some sexual significance."

A bust of Manaf was once described as the following: "The muscular beardless face is surrounded by the two dangling pieces of wig, that hair that symbolizes the solar deities. As for the eyelids and pupils, they are surrounded by lines. The neck is decorated with a Syrian deities necklace. We also notice the folds of the jilbab on the chest."

Today, "Manaf" is a boy name infrequently given mostly in the Arab world. Despite being a boy's name, it can also be given to girls; while "Abd Manaf" has since become virtually unused.