Tafsir of An-Najm 53:19-23

{اللات والعزى}: These were idols belonging to them, and they are feminine.

Al-Lāt: It belonged to the Thaqīf tribe in al-Ṭā'if. It is also said that it was in Nakhlah, worshipped by the Quraysh. It is a noun form (fiʿlah) derived from lawā (to twist/turn), because they would gather around it and remain there for worship, or "twist" around it, meaning they would circumambulate it. It has been recited as al-Lāt with a shaddah (doubling the 't'). It is claimed that it was named after a man who used to mix (yaluttu) butter with oil and feed it to the pilgrims. According to Mujāhid, it was a man who used to mix sawīq (barley meal) in al-Ṭā'if, and they would gather at his grave, so they turned him into an idol.

Al-ʿUzzā: It belonged to the Ghaṭafān tribe and was an acacia tree. Its root is the feminine form of al-aʿazz (the most mighty). The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sent Khālid ibn al-Walīd to it, and he cut it down. A female devil emerged from it, with her hair disheveled, calling out in woe, and placing her hands on her head. He struck her with his sword until he killed her, saying: O ʿUzzā, your disbelief, not your glorification! Indeed, I have seen that Allah has humiliated you. He returned and informed the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), who said: "That was al-ʿUzzā, and she shall never be worshipped again."

Manāt: A rock belonging to the Hudhayl and Khuzāʿah tribes. According to Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both), it belonged to Thaqīf. It has been recited as Manā'ah. It seems it was named Manāt because the blood of sacrifices (nasā'ik) would be poured (tumnā) there. Manā'ah is a noun form (mafʿalah) from al-naw' (the setting of stars), as if they sought rain through the stars (anwā') at that site, seeking blessings from it.

{والأخرى}: This is a disparagement, meaning the later, lowly one in status, as in the Almighty’s saying: {The first of them will say to the last of them} (al-Aʿrāf: 38), meaning their lowly ones to their leaders and nobles. It is possible that the "first" and "precedence" in their view belonged to al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā.

They used to say that the angels and these idols were the daughters of Allah. They worshipped them and claimed they were their intercessors with Allah, while simultaneously burying their own daughters alive. Thus, it was said to them: {Is there for you the male and for Him the female?}

It may also be intended that al-Lāt, al-ʿUzzā, and Manāt are female, and you have made them partners to Allah, while it is your nature to despise females and feel ashamed that they are born to you and attributed to you. How then do you make these females equals to Allah and call them gods?

{قسمة ضيزى}: An unjust division. It comes from ḍāzahu yaḍīzuhu when one wrongs another. The original form is ḍawzā, but it was treated like bīḍ (plural of bayḍah) so that the yā' remains. It has been recited as ḍi'zā with a hamzah. Ḍīzā is with a fatḥah on the ḍād.

{هي}: The pronoun refers to the idols, meaning: they are {nothing but names}—there are no actual entities behind them, because you claim divinity for that which is furthest from it and most contradictory to it. Similar to this is the Almighty’s saying: {You do not worship besides Him except names you have named} (Yūsuf: 40). Or, the pronoun refers to the "names," which are their words: "al-Lāt, al-ʿUzzā, and Manāt." They intend by these names the gods themselves, meaning: these names are nothing but names you have invented according to your whims and desires; you have no proof from Allah for the validity of naming them as such to which you can cling. The meaning of {sammaytumūhā} is "you have named them with these names." It is said: sammaytuhu Zaydan (I named him Zayd) and sammaytuhu bi-Zayd.

{إن يتبعون}: (Recited with a tā' as tattabiʿūna) {except assumption}: Except for the delusion that what they are upon is the truth, and that their gods are their intercessors, and what their souls desire. They abandon the guidance and proof that has come to them, which demonstrates that their religion is false.