Unsolved:Ouza
Ouza, also Semyaza, Shemhazai, Amezyarak, Azza, and Uzza, was a major leader of the fall from heaven in Jewish and Christian mythology, one of the angels that came down from heaven alongside Azazel to interbreed with humans. Ouza before the fall was of the rank of Seraphim.[1] In legend, he is the seraph tempted by the maiden Ishtahar to reveal to her the Explicit Name of God. Often it is speculated that a main reason for Azza's expulsion from heaven is that Azza objected to the high rank given to Enoch when the latter was transformed from a mortal into the angel Metatron. In Solomonic lore the story is that Azza was the angel who revealed to the Jewish king the heavenly arcana, thus making Solomon the wisest man on earth. Of the 2 groups of angels headed by Metatron, one of the groups, the angels of justice, were under the rulership of Azza, who at this time had not yet fallen. Uzza is the tutelary angel of the Egyptians.[2] The name Semyaza means literally "the name Azza." Semyaza's sons, Hiwa and Hiya, by one of Eve's daughters, were so mighty that they daily ate 1000 camels, 1000 horses, and 1000 oxen.[3]
Azza, according to the rabbinic tradition, is suspended between Heaven and Earth along with Azazel as punishment for having had carnal knowledge of mortal women. Ouza (Azza, Uzza, Semyaza, etc.) is said to be constantly falling, with one eye shut and the other open, to see his plight and suffer the more. It is said that he now hangs, head down, and is the constellation of Orion.[4]
It is also worth mentioning that Ouza was one of the major items of worship in the pagan Arabic culture, before the rise of Islam. Al Ouza and Al Lat (The Ouza and the Lat) were considered the Daughters of God and were prayed for. However, with the appearance of the monotheistic religion of Islam, the worship of any other god beside God (Allah) was defeated. The mention of Al Lat and Al Ouza was made in the Chapter of the Star (Surat Al Najm) [chapter no. 53] in the Quran:
19. Have ye seen Lat and 'Uzza,
20. And another, the third (goddess), Manat?
21. Shall the male gender be yours and the female be His?
22. Behold, such would be indeed a division most unfair!
23. These are nothing but names which ye have devised,- ye and your fathers,- for which Allah has sent down no authority (whatever). They follow nothing but conjecture and what their own souls desire!- Even though there has already come to them Guidance from their Lord!
Further description and information about these goddesses could be found in scholar's writings about the Arabic religious practices before Islam.
See also
- Azazel
- Semyaza
References
pl:Szemhazaj
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